The Winchester Family Business
by warr2654
Summary: On November 2, 1983 Mary, John, and Dean said goodnight to Sam and Troian...twins! This sister-fic follows the series from the start. This will follow the script and episodes to the T, so of course there will be spoilers. I do not own Supernatural or the characters!
1. Prolouge

_**November 2, 1983**_

"Come on, let's say goodnight to your brother and sister" Mary smiled as she put the four year old boy down inside the nursery. She clicked on the lights as Dean ran first to Sam's crib. The little boy was lying on his back with a big smile on his face.

"Night, Sam" Dean said to the smiling boy. "Night Troian" he added as he walked over the squealing baby girl.

Mary planted a kiss on Sam's forehead while Dean was still peering down at Troian. "Goodnight, love" Mary cooed down to her 6 month old baby girl.

"Hey, Dean" John whispered as he walked into the nursery. John was leaning against the door jam watching his family interact until he could no longer stand to be only a spectator.

"Daddy!" Dean cheered as he ran over to his father.

"Hey Buddy" John smiled as he caught his son mid-leap. "So, what do you think? You think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?" he asked as he walked over to peer down at his 6-month-old son.

"No, Daddy" Dean laughed at his father's silly question.

Mary couldn't help but feel her heart warm as she witnessed her husband and son interact so, but she was tired from getting the twins ready for bed. "You got him?" Mary asked John, referring to Dean, who was now looking down on Sam from his father's strong arms.

"I got him" John smiled at his wife. As she passed he caught her wrist to pull her towards him. John leaned away from Dean momentarily to give Mary a kiss on her cheek. As Mary walked out of the nursery, John hugged Dean closer to him as he looked over at Troian. "Sweet dreams" he whispered to his son and daughter as he turned off the light and closed the door behind him.

* * *

The sounds of cooing and static coming from the baby monitor woke Mary from a dream. She was dreaming about her family, all grown up and sitting in the back of the family car, heading to the University of Kansas to move Dean into his dorm room. "John" she called out to the spot next to her. Unfortunately, she rolled over to see an empty space next to her. She sighed as she struggled towards the nursery to comfort her child. "John? Is he hungry?" Mary muttered when she saw a shadow of her husband standing over Sam's crib.

"Shh" came the answer from the dark.

"Alright" Mary chuckled as she turned to go back to bed. She was happy to see John was taking care of Sam for her, so when Mary heard the television was still on she padded downstairs to flip it off. As soon as Mary was able to see in the lounge her heart stopped; John was passed out in the recliner.

"No, Sammy, Troi!" she whispered as she ran back to the nursery.

John woke with a start to the sound of Mary's blood curling scream. "Mary?" John yelled as he scrambled out of the chair he was reclining in. His heavy boots stomped as he ran up the stairs and through the closed nursery door. "Mary?"

John glanced around the room and saw the twins were both still in their crib and Mary was nowhere in sight. 'Perhaps she just had a bad dream' John thought to himself as he brushed the fine brown hair off Sam's forehead. "Hey Sammy, you okay?" John asked the small boy. Unfortunately, something dark began to drip on the pillow next to his son's head. John glanced up above him as two more drops landed on the back of his hand.

On the ceiling, John saw Mary pinned there in her white nightgown and blond curly hair framing her pale scared face. A red ring of blood was spreading on her abdomen. The sight of her blood sent John collapsing to the floor. "No! Mary!" he screamed, causing Sam and Troian to start crying as well.

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Mary burst into flames that engulfed the entire ceiling. The heat quickly reminded John he was not alone in the now flaming room; he struggled to his feet and reached down to pick Sam up from is crib and tuck him into the crook of his right arm.

As he turned to go for Troian, John saw Dean standing in the doorway terrified at the sight before him. "Daddy!" he called out against the flames.

"Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back!" John shouted as he placed the bundle of blankets swaddling Sam in Dean's small arms. "Now Dean, go!"

Dean took off at a sprint for the front door as John turned to look back at the ceiling. "Mary!" he called out one more time before reaching down to pick up Troian. Once Mary was fully enveloped in the flames, John took off at a sprint again, but this time for the front door. When John saw his two sons looking back at the house he froze. How was he supposed to take care of three kids and himself without his loving wife by his side?

"It's okay, Sammy" Dean said once he saw his father coming out of the house with his sister snuggled into his side like a football.

"I gottcha" John panted as he grabbed Dean around the legs, who was still holding Sam tightly in his own arms and ran what was remaining of his family away from his burning home.

* * *

John was numb- the love of his life had just exploded into flames on the ceiling over their babies. He was sitting on the black hood of the family car with the twins in his arms and dean leaning against his side. The whole neighborhood along with Lawrence, Kansas' firefighters were gathered on his front lawn gawking at the smoldering home that now stood before them. "Must have been electrical" a firefighter told John. "Should go get your family somewhere warm. Sorry about your loss."

**AN: The first part of what I hope will be my next story! Please tell me what you think and if you want to read more...**


	2. 22 years Later

_**22 Years Later**_

**October 31, 2005  
**"Sam!" a blond called from the other room. "Get a move on, would you? We're supposed to be there like 15 minutes ago. Sam! You coming or what?" the bong yelled out again.

"Do I have to?" Sam asked once the blond walked into the room. He quickly glanced her over from head to toe. She was dressed as a nurse with a small skirt on her costume.

"Yes! It'll be fun, and where is your costume?" she answered as she stepped into the living room.

Sam chuckled at the suddenly stern look on Jessica's face. "You know how I feel about Halloween, babe."

"Too bad, come on" she winked back at Sam.

* * *

"So here's to Sam," Jess smiled, raising her shot glass to everyone at their table "and his awesome LSAT victory."

"Alright, alright, it's not that big a deal" Sam smiled at Jess as he clinked glasses with everyone.

"Yeah, he acts all humble but he scored 174!"

"Is that good?" one of the table occupants asked.

"Scary good" Jess chuckled proudly. "But now he has first pick at any law school he wants!"

"Actually," Sam interrupted "I have an interview here. Monday, if it goes okay I think I got a shot at a full ride next year."

"Hey, it's going to go great" Jess answered as she gave Sam a kiss on the cheek.

"It better."

"So, how's it feel to be golden boy of your family?" the same occupant asked.

"Ah, they don't know" Sam shrugged.

"Why not? I'd be gloating."

"Because we aren't exactly the Brady's" he explained as he looked down at his empty shot glass.

"No seriously. I'm proud of you. And you're gonna knock 'em dead on Monday, and you'll get that full ride. I know it" Jess smiled.

"What would I do without you?" Sam replied as he pulled Jessica closer to him.

"Hmm, crash and burn" she smirked as she allowed Sam to pull her in even closer for a kiss.

* * *

Dean quietly opened the apartment's kitchen window and pulled his long body through before holding out his hand to help his sister in. "Got it, Dean" she snapped as she gracefully stepped into the dark kitchen.

"Course you do" Dean whispered back sarcastically as he began to walk around the apartment. Troian followed suit, but headed opposite direction Dean had, taking her towards the bedroom.

As she eased into the dark room, she could barely make out two sleeping forms, back to back. It was a simple room without many decorations, but it was comforting and inviting. Troian continued to stare at the couple until one began to stir.

"'Ey," Dean whispered "Troi."

"Yeah?" she answered once she found Dean in the living room. He was staring at a picture of a young woman with a man next to her in a USMC shirt.

"I think we found him" she smiled. No sooner did the words leave his mouth then he heard footsteps coming down the hall towards them.

"Get covered, stay out of sight" Dean ordered Troian before ducking out towards the kitchen again.

Dean suddenly felt two hands clamp down on his shoulders and yank him backwards. He shoved the hands away and aimed a punch right for the attacker's jaw, but was easily avoided. Dean then grabbed the attacker and swung him back against a wall. The man quickly regained composure and kicked at Dean, pushing him back into the kitchen. Once Dean was able to earn his balance back, he sent an elbow at the man's face, colliding with his jaw but leaving himself wide open for a kick. Dean caught the leg and pushed its owner down on the ground and held him in place with one hand on his neck. "Easy, Tiger" Dean panted down at the man.

"Dean? You scared the crap outta me!" Sam panted back.

"That's 'cause you're out of practice" he laughed back. To prove he was wrong, Sam grabbed Dean, pulling him down close before slamming the heel of his palm into the bridge of his nose and ended up on top of him. "Or not" he groaned around the pain in his nose. "Get off me!"

Sam quickly got to his feet and pulled Dean up with him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I was looking for a beer" Troian answered as she stepped up behind Sam.

"What the hell are you both doing here?" Sam asked again, a little nervous this time.

"Okay, alright. We gotta talk" Dean answered shortly.

"Uh, the phone…?" Sam asked.

"If we'd woulda called, would you have answered?" Dean answered as a light finally flicked on.

"Sam?" Jess yawned as she took in the two strangers who looked similar to Sam.

"Jess. Hey Dean, Troi, this is my girlfriend" Sam introduced as he walked over to where Jess was standing.

"Wait, brother and twin, Dean and Troi?" Jess asked now fully awake and suddenly aware she was in a thin, too tight shirt and boy shorts.

"Oh, I love the Smurfs. You know I gotta tell you. You are completely out of my brother's league" Dean flirted as he took a step closer to Jess.

"Don't pay attention to him," Troi spoke up as she stepped in front of Dean "thinks he is a gift to woman-kind. I'm happy to see Sammy found someone."

Jess returned Troi's gaze and smile from under Sam's protective arm. Even with only being in the room with Sam for a few minutes, Troi could feel the twin connection growing between them again.

"Anyway," Dean cleared his throat "gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business. But uh, nice meeting you."

"No," Sam said tightening his hold on Jess to keep her from moving away. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."

"Okay," Troi spoke up "um, Dad hasn't been home in a few days."

"So, he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble in sooner or later."

"No" Troi mumbled as she looked down at her boots before quickly looking back up. "Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days."

Sam's grip on Jess suddenly loosened as he felt the rest of his tall body tense. "Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside" he calmly replied without breaking his gaze from Troi's.

"Sure," she said as she slipped out from under Sam's warm arm. "I'll wait up."

* * *

"Come on, you two can't just break in, middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you" Sam argued as he started down the stairs.

"Sammy, you're not hearing me. Dad's missing and we need your help finding him" Dean countered as he sped up to get in front of his taller brother.

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? He was missing then, too. Dad's always missing and is always fine."

"Not for tis long. Now are you gonna come and help or not?" Dean asked, stopping Sam from running further.

"I'm not" Sam shook his head.

"Why not?" Troi asked behind him.

Sam turned to look at his twin sister and immediately regretted doing so. Those big green eyes that mirrored his own were begging him to go back to her. "I swore I was done hunting. For good."

"Come on, it wasn't easy but was it that bad?" Troi pleaded

"Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45!" Sam continued to explain. This time he earned a shrug out of his twin, so he turned back to look at Dean.

"Well what was he supposed to do?" Dean chuckled as he began to descend the stairs again.

"I was nine years old! He was supposed to say 'Don't be afraid of the dark'!

"Don't be afraid of the dark?" Dean shouted back and stopped suddenly. "Are you kidding me? Of course be afraid of be the dark! You know what's out there."

"Yeah, I know, but still" Sam stuttered. Despite his age and size, Sam suddenly felt like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and was getting a lecture now. "The way we grew up after Mom was killed and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found it so we kill every damn thing we can find."

Dean looked over at his little sister than up at his little brother in front of him. They of all people know Dean hated this life, but it was all they knew. "We save a lot of people doing it."

"You think Mom would have wanted this for us?" Sam pointed out as Dean slammed the stairwell's door open, giving sight to the old family car sitting alone under a street light. "The weapon training and melting silver into bullets? Dude, we were all raised like warriors! It's lucky Troi turned out to be a tomboy."

"So what are you going to do?" Troi barked "You just gonna live some apple pie life with Barbie? Is that it?"

Sam could tell by the anger behind her words, Troi was disappointed in him and that was the last thing he ever wanted.

"No, not normal. Safe" he said softly as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"And that's why you ran away" she said as she pulled away from her twin.

"I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I am doing" Sam shouted at both his siblings.

"Yeah, well Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it" Dean yelled back. When he wanted to, Dean could act exactly like his ex-Marine father, but this was not what he wanted right now. Dean bowed his head and took a big shaky breath before continuing. "I, - we can't do this alone."

"Sure you can" Sam snapped out of frustration from Dean's previous tone.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to."

The defeated look in Dean and Troi's eyes tore Sam's emotional shield he put on once he saw his siblings in two, no way he could refused his best friend and twin. "What was he hunting?" Sam sighed as he headed towards the 1967 black Impala under the streetlight.

"Alright, let's see, where did I put that thing?" Dean smiled as he opened the trunk to the classic car. AS he dug through the clutter in the wheel-well, Troi handed a folder full of paper to him. "Right, thanks."

"So when Dad left, why did you go with him?" Sam asked Dean as he shuffled through the folder.

"We were working our own gig. This uh, voodoo thing in New Orleans" Dean answered shortly.

"Dad let you go on a trip without him?"

"Dude, I'm 26 and she's 22." Dean finally pulled out a couple pieces of paper. "Alright, here we go. So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, CA. About a month ago, this guy- they found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA."

Sam read over the pages Dean handed him. The headline read 'Centennial Highway Disappearance', where Andrew Carey was shown as 'Missing as of September 19, 2005'. "So maybe he was kidnapped" Sam shrugged one he finished reading everything.

"Yeah, well here's another one in April" Troi countered as she handed Sam the folder. "Another in December 2004, 2003, 1998, '92. Ten of them over the past 20 years."

"All men, all the same five-mile stretch of road" Dean added as he began to sort through the rest of his weapons.

"It started happening more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago, we haven't heard from him since, which is bad enough," Troi spoke again "then I got this voicemail yesterday."

She hit play on an old recorder and the sounds of a static version of his father's voice came through. _Troian, something big is starting to happen…I need to try and figure out what's goin' on. It may…Be very careful, Troi. We're all in danger. _

"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam smirked down to his twin sister.

"Not bad, Sammy. Was afraid you would have lost your touch after all this time here at fancy Stanford" she praised. "So here is the slowed down part."

_I can never go home…_ a woman's voice rang through.

"Never go home" Sam repeated, digging for some answer out of his siblings while processing himself.

"You know in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing" Dean spat. He was angry that Sam was turning his back on them, on his family. The way Dean sees it, Sam is allowing another parent to slip away on his watch.

Sam sighed and looked away from his siblings and considered the fact that Dean was right. He had taken two years off and now they needed his help on one case to save their father. "Alright, I'll go. I'll help you find him" he cringed as he agreed to come along with his siblings. "But I have to get back first thing Monday; I'll be back down in a second."

"Mind if I come to say bye to Jess?" Troi chuckled as she followed Sam back upstairs. The only answer Sam gave was to hold the stairwell door open for her. "Thanks, so what's happening on Monday?"

"I uh, I have this job interview" Sam stuttered. He wasn't sure how to tell his family, but he knew Troian at least needed to hear it from him before her twin-telepathy kicked in. "It's a law school interview, actually."

"Law school?" Troi smirked "Really, big brother?"

"Yeah" Sam smiled shyly. "It's my whole future on a plate, I can't skip it."

Troi smiled up at her taller brother before wrapping her arms around his neck. "You won't, I won't let it happen. Happy you're coming along for this one."

Sam reciprocated his sister's hug, picking her up off the ground. Troian was probably the one he missed most, after all they were going to come up to Stanford together, but she backed out last minute when their father began his threats about never coming back. 'I'm sorry Sam, I-I can't do this. I need my family, maybe more than you do. Just promise you'll call.' "Missed you too, Troi" Sam smiled as the words and guilt stopped echoing in his head.


	3. Urban Legends

_**Urban Legends**_

Dean pulled up to the empty gas pump and hopped out to fill up on gas. Sam cracked open the passenger door for fresh air and began to look through Dean's tape collection. "He hasn't changed one bit, has he?" Sam chuckled to himself.

"Nope, splitting image of Dad still" Troi mumbled from the backseat. "First the jacket, then the car, now the music too. Sadly you get used to it."

Sam smiled down at the box in his lap and at Troi's words. There was once a time when Sam and Troi knew each other better than they knew themselves, but now it seemed like miles were stick between them. "Guess familiar will do that to you" Sam mumbled.

"Yeah guess so" Troi answered back. She had also picked up on how Sam was feeling right now. "Jess seemed nice, you lucked out finding her."

"Yeah, yeah I did" Sam smiled back at Troi. "Has it really been all work for you? No fun?"

Troian sat up in the back seat of the impala and leaned on her forearms on the front bench seat. "You know how it is with Dad. You were lucky enough to get away and have the good life. I just fought monsters."

Sam felt bad for the life he stuck Troian with, even felt bad for walking out on her. But he had to get out before he and John tore each other apart.

Dean came back from the mart connected to the gas station with a full grocery bad in tow. Dean opened up the driver's side door, interrupting his younger siblings' catch up time. "Hey! You want breakfast?" he asked, poking his head into the car.

"No thanks. So, how'd you par for that stuff anyways?" Sam questioned, but secretly he already knew the answer. "You three are still running credit card scams."

"Yeah well, hunting ain't exactly a pro-ball career. Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards" Dean chuckled as he tossed a bag of beef jerky and a Dr. Pepper back to Troian before tossing the rest of the bag at Sam.

"Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?" he chuckled as he glanced into the bag.

"Burt Afraim" Troi spoke up around a mouthful of chewy meat. "And his son, Hector. They got two cards out of the deal."

"Sounds about right" Sam acknowledged. "I swear Dean, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection."

Troi tried as hard as she could to stifle her laugh, but it came out in the form of a snort instead. She had told Dean the same thing many times over, and it always earned her the same reaction. Sam caught Troian's eye from the rearview mirror and suddenly felt like he was put into a practical joke TV show.

"Why?" Dean asked curtly over his shoulder.

"Well, for one they're cassette tapes. And two, Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?"

Dean snatched the old show box off Sam's lap with a huff and carefully made sure each tape was in one piece and its proper place. "So?" he whispered under his breath.

"It's the greatest hits of mullet rock" Sam laughed at Dean's slightly pained expression.

"He does have a point" Troi spoke up from the backseat.

"Your taste in music needs an update just as badly as Troi and I need a car of our own!"

"Well, house rules you two," Dean spoke up with his new found confidence "driver picks the music, shotgun shuts their cakehole."

* * *

As Dean drove past the sign that read Jericho was in 7 miles, he couldn't help but think they were all back where they were supposed to be. Troian was leaning against the backdoor updating her hunting journal while Sam curled his long legs up in the small space he had in front of him. He was also on the phone with the hospitals and police stations on the area. "Alright, thank you" Sam said into the phone before closing it. "So, there's no one matching Dad's description at the hospital or morgue."

"Well, that's something at least" Troi sighed from behind her brothers as she spotted a large to do on a bridge over a large river.

"Check it out" Dean cheered as he dug out a tin box from the glove department. As he dug around, he found three matching badges each with their own picture on it. "Let's go" he said once he handed out the badges to their perspective owners.

Sam and Troi followed after Dean as he rushed forward to the scene swarming with deputies mumbling about whose daughter was dating the missing owner of the abandoned car. "You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean hollered out in front of him.

"And who are you?" Deputy Jaffe called out to the three young adults dressed in street clothes coming under the yellow police tape.

"Federal Marshalls" Dean replied as he flashed the fake badge at him.

"Aren't you three a little young to be Federal Marshalls?" Deputy Jaffe asked, skeptical but still believing to some degree. After all, who would lie about that?

"Aw thanks. Awful kind of you" Troi purred back at the deputy. She often enjoyed being flirtatious towards the authorities they encountered simply because she was pretty enough to. It also played well when her family got in a jam or found themselves hitting a blockade. "You did have another one just like this, correct?" she asked again.

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that" the deputy smiled at Troian. "I can show you if you'd like."

"So, this victim," Sam spoke up, feeling suddenly protective over his twin sister "you know him?"

"Town like this, everybody knows everybody."

Sam nodded as Dean shot out another question. "Any connections between the victims, beside that they're all men?"

"No," Deputy Jaffe answered "not so far as we can tell."

"So then, what's the theory?" Troi spoke up again as she walked away from her brothers and closer to the deputy.

"Honestly?" he whispered "We don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"

Troi walked back to her spot between her brothers while she and Sam thought everything over.

"Well, that's exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys" Dean chuckled in an attempt to break the silence, but unfortunately earned himself a swift kick to the shin from Troi and a stiff glare from Sam.

"Thank you for your time" Sam quickly put in, expressing their gratitude.

"Deputy Jaffe" Troi purred before turning to follow Sam back to the Impala. As she was walking, Dean dropped back by a step to get a better angle for the quick slap he gave Troian upside her head. "Ow, what was that for?" she spat into Dean's face.

It made Sam happy to see Troian finally began to stand up for herself and became more assertive towards Dean as he sternly lectured her for kicking him. AS much as he was relieved to see Troian was stronger, Sam prayed it was the same with John and her.

* * *

Sam and Dean agreed to check out the town while Troian drove the strip of highway a couple times. As always, Dean was upset to part with his beloved car nicknamed Baby, by the trusted Troi's driving.

While Sam and Dean walked along the sidewalk, they noticed a pair of girls walking towards them holding a stack of papers they were posting everywhere. "I'll bet you that's her" Dean pointed out.

"Yeah" Sam nodded as he followed Dean towards the girls.

"You must be Amy" Dean said recalling some talk on the bridge between the deputies.

"Yeah" the girl named Amy replied very unsure about who was approaching her.

"Yeah, Troy told us about you. We're his uncles. I'm Dean, this is Sammy."

"He never mentioned you guys to me" she answered with a nervous tone.

"Well yeah, that's Troy I guess. We're not around much, we're up in Modesto" Sam filled in. "So, we're looking for him too, and we're kind of asking around. You mind if we ask you some questions?"

* * *

Troian was upset to see there wasn't anything specifically strange about the strip of highway everyone was disappearing on. After the third drive past, Troi stepped out of the car and began to look around the area on the side of the two laned blacktop. She paced for a few minutes, but decided it was just grassy area and it was time to rejoin her brothers.

Sam had texted Troian where to meet them once she was done and joined them right as they themselves began to talk with who she assumed to be Amy.

"This is our sister, Troian" Dean introduced her as she pulled up a chair and sat at the head of the booth.

"A-are you two twins?" Amy stuttered at Troi and Sam.

"Yeah, fraternal" Sam answered matter of factly.

"But uh, personally I think we look nothing alike" Troi smiled as she offered her hand out to Amy.

"So," Dean interrupted "you were saying?"

"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home- he said he would call me right back and… he never did" Amy said quietly as she fiddled with her hands.

"He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked carefully so as not to frighten her, but she shook her head as tears began to form in her eyes.

"I like your necklace" Troi smiled at Amy after a few moments of silence. "Where did you get it? Sam made me one a couple years back, I haven't ever seen another like it" she gushed as she pulled her own out from under her shirt.

Amy instinctively reached for her own and began to finger it. Her necklace was a leather string holding a tarnished silver pendent. The pendent was an upright pentacle surrounded by a thin circle. "Troy gave it to me, mostly to scare my parents with all that devil stuff" she told Troian.

Sam couldn't help but look down and laugh. Seeing her brother laugh put a smile on Troian's face, but she bit her tongue to give him the spotlight. "Actually," Sam said "it means just the opposite. A pentagram, like what you and Troi are wearing, is protection against evil. Really powerful, I mean if you believe in that kind of thing."

"Alright" Dean cleared his throat. "Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries." Dean sent a glare over to his brother as he leaned closer to Amy and her friend. "Here's the deal, ladies. The way your Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you heard anything-".

Amy and her friend Rachel both began to shift and look at each other almost on cue. Once they both remembered there were other people with them, they both dropped their gaze.

"What is it?" Troi asked softly as she too leaned forward.

"Well it's just…I mean with all these guys missing people talk" Rachel said for the first time.

"What do they talk about?" Sam and Troi asked at the same time, earning a proud smirk from their older brother.

"It's kind of this local legend. This one girl, she got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago" she answered. "Well, supposedly she is still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well they disappear forever."

Troi looked across the table at her brothers as they looked back at her, now knowing what their next step was.

**AN: Sorry for the slow updates, I'm writing as I post this time. As always please leave a review telling me what you think. I haven't gotten much feedback, so I may just do a couple episodes and call it quits. Enjoy!**


	4. Answers

_**Answers**_

Dean and Sam both sat down at an open computer in the city's library while Troian hovered behind them. They were all hoping to find the source of the urban legend, but were having a hard time finding anything. Dean tried a couple searches, but all came up empty.

"Let me try" Sam spoke up once he was done just sitting by.

"I got it" Dean said as he slapped Sam's hand away from the computer mouse. Sam was tired of being swept aside, so instead he moved Dean's chair aside and slid into the open spot in front of the keyboard. "Dude!" Dean protested as he rolled away. Troi happily stood back and watched as Sam and Dean both fought over the computer. "You're such a control freak" Dean pouted as he watched Sam work.

"So, angry spirits are born out of a violent death, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah" Troi and Dean both answered together.

"Well, maybe it's not murder this time" Sam shrugged as he typed _suicide_ into the search instead of _murder. _His search produced one article titled _Suicide on Centennial_ from April 25, 1981. The article read "A local woman's drowning death was ruled suicide. Constance Welch, 24, leapt off Sylvania Bridge at mile 33 on Centennial Highway, and subsequently drowned last night." As Troian and Dean continued to peer at the screen, Sam began to give them a summary as he quickly read the rest of the article.

"This was 1981. Constance Welch 24 years old, jumped off the bridge and drowns in the river."

"Does it say why she did it?" Troi asked while she glanced at the picture.

"Yeah. An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Apparently her two little kids are in the bathtub, she leaves them alone for a minute and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both died" Sam answered.

"Hmm," Dean muttered with a raised eyebrow "that bridge look familiar to you"

* * *

The three Winchesters walked along the bridge away from the parked Impala. Troian reached a point where she believed Constance jumped and peered over the edge down at the water. "So this is where Constance took the swan dive" she spoke up above the wind.

"You think Dad would have been here?" Sam asked her a she stopped next to her.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him."

"Okay, so now what?" Sam asked his younger twin again.

"Now we keep digging until we find him, might take a while" Troi shrugged.

"I told you, Troian- I've gotta get back by-"

"Monday, yeah I remember, Sammy. The interview."

"Yeah" Sam nodded as Dean began to walk towards them.

"You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer, marry your girl?" Dean asked his little brother.

"Maybe, why not?" Sam scoffed back.

"Does Jessica know about the things you've done?"

Sam stepped away from Troi and the banister and towards Dean. He was angered that Dean was questioning his motives and intentions with Jess. "No, and she's not going to ever know."

"Well, that's healthy" Dean laughed. "You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are." Dean turned to walk slowly back to the car.

"And who's that?" Sam yelled after him.

"You're one of us" Dean smiled as he turned around and help up his arms in celebration.

Sam turned to face Troian and judge her reaction before speaking back to Dean. She was shocked, her face set in a look of disappointment towards Dean and surprise that Sam was holding his tongue so well. "No, I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"You have a responsibility to-" Dean started, but was interrupted by Sam, who was now in his face.

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures like the one in my living room, I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone! And she isn't coming back!"

Dean snapped and grabbed Sam by the thick collar on his brown jacket. Easily, Dean used his weight to flip Sam and his positions so now Sam was pinned against the cold metal beam. "Don't you talk about her like that" Dean spat into Sam's face as Troian rushed over to her brothers.

Before she could play mediator, Troi noticed out of the corner of her eye that they were not alone on the bridge. "Guys," she whispered as she put a hand on Dean's arm "look!"

Both boys followed Troi's line of sight and saw a woman standing not too far away from them, ready to jump. As Troian, Dean, and Sam stared at the woman, it became clear that this woman as pale as a ghost was Constance Welch. They continued to watch as she slowly leaned over the railing and tumbled to the cold river below and to her death. Sam and Dean took off at a sprint to the place she jumped from, while Troi just looked down from the place she was still standing. "W-where'd she go?" Troi yelled against the wind to her brothers.

Almost on cue, Baby roared to life and the car's headlights flicked on. As Dean and Sam turned to face the car, Troi jogged up to where they were standing. "Who's driving your car?" Sam asked sarcastically. The only response Sam got was Dean reaching into his pocket and pulling the keys out he jingled them.

As Sam and Troian looked at Dean's hand, the car gave an unsteady lurch towards them. Sam gave Troi a gentle shove to get going as he grabbed Dean's arm. "Go! Go!" he urged his sibling before taking off behind Troi. The car began to drive faster and faster, until it was right on Dean's heels.

Troi cut right and leaped towards the banister right as the car swung wide to cut everyone over. Sam and Dean both followed her lead and leapt towards the edge of the bridge.

Troi and Sam were both hanging onto a beam on the bridge while Dean lay in the mud on the edge of the riverbank. Sam pulled himself up to a place where he could stand before going to help Troian up as well.

"Dean? Dean!" Troi yelled down to her brother one Sam helped her up.

"What?" Dean choked back up to the twins standing on the bridge.

"Hey! Are you alright?" she exhaled, now relieved to hear he was awake at least.

"I'm super" he hollered back as he rolled over onto his back.

Troi and Sam both chuckled at the sight below them now that they knew everyone was safe and relatively unhurt.

* * *

Dean had his head buried under the Impala's hood, making sure everything was in its place and working correctly. He shut the hood and leaned against the front of his car.

"Your car alright?" Sam asked from where he was leaning next to Troian's open door.

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems okay now" he replied curtly. "That Constance chick. What a bitch!" he yelled.

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure. So, where's the job go from here, genius?" Sam laughed as he walked over towards Dean and sat next to him. The only response Dean gave was throwing his hands up in the air. "You smell like a toilet" Sam said with a wrinkle of a nose before walking back towards the sound of laughter.

* * *

As Dean drove towards a motel, Sam and Troi both struggled to stop gagging from Dean's rank. The smell had only gotten worse as they got closer to the motel, so all the windows were rolled down, despite the chill. As soon as he eased the car into a spot and threw gear to park, Troian and Sam both rushed to get out as fast as they could.

"Damn, can't stand some smell?" Dean asked almost hurt. His answer came in the form of two almost identical looks. "Fine, let's just go get a damn room" he whined as he stormed through the front door.

Dean walked right up to the front desk and asked for two beds as Sam held the front door open for Troi to enter first. They both stood behind the filthy Dean as he finished business. When Dean put down the credit card, the clerk looked up for the first time. "You guys having a reunion or something?" he asked Dean.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked still from behind Dean.

"I had another guy, Burt Afraimian. He came and bought out a room for the whole month" he answered.

Dean turned his back on the clerk and gave his younger siblings a smirk. "By chance remember what room he bought out?"

* * *

With the key in hand, Dean opened the motel room door and pushed it open. Sam and Troian both stood to one side, guns pointed in. As the twins step inside, Dean turned to play look out. Once the room was secure, Troi reached out and pulled Dean inside by his collar before closing the door.

The room was a cluttered disaster- every inch of wall space was covered by newspaper clippings, maps, pictures, and notes. There were assorted old books and junk just littering the table and floor, and on one bed was something with a biohazard symbol on it.

"Whoa" Troi muttered under her breath.

Dean turned on a light on the bedside table and picked up a half-eaten burger on the wrapper still. He cautiously sniffed the meat and instantly regretted it. "Don't think he's been here for a couple days, at least" he informed the room.

Sam had bent down to finger a line of salt drawn around the doorway and looked up when Dean spoke. "Salt, cats-eye shells… he was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in."

Troi nodded as she began to look at all the papers on the walls. "What have you got here?" Dean asked as he stepped up next to her.

"Centennial Highway victims" she answered as she continued to scan the faces. "I don't get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, age, ethnicities. There's a connection, right? Has to be, what do these guys have in common?" As Troi and Dean talked, Sam began to inspect the papers on the other wall.

There was something about the Bell Witch, two people burned alive, a skeletal person blowing into a horn with the note "Mortis Danse," a column about _Devils and Demons, _another on a Woman in White with Constance's suicide next to it, and a wooden pentacle.

"Dad figured it out" Troi whispered out.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked as he walked up behind his sister.

"He found the same article we did- Constance Welch. She is a Woman in White" Troi informed her brothers.

"You sly dog" Dean smirked as he continued to study the victims' pictures.

"Alright, so if we're dealing with a Woman in White, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it" Sam rationalized.

"She might have another weakness" Troi spoke up.

"Well, Dad would want to make sure" Dean shrugged. "He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?"

"No, not that I can tell, but if I were Dad though, I'd go ask her husband" Troi smiled over her shoulder. Her face looked as if she were holding the biggest secret in and had no intention of telling anyone. "Caption says he's 30; the article was written in 1981, so he must be-"

"64" Sam answered for her. "If he's still alive."

He walked away to look at the table filled with books while Dean continued to study the picture of Constance in a white dress. "Alright. Why don't you, uh, see if you two can find an address. I'm going to get cleaned up" Dean ordered as he turned towards the bathroom.

"Good" Troi smiled.

"Hey Dean?" Sam called after him.

'What?" he answered, almost annoyed by the stall.

"What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry."

Dean held up his hand, signaling Sam to stop what he was trying to do. "No chick-flick moments" he smiled over to his little brother.

"Alright, jerk" Sam smirked playfully.

"Bitch" Dean smirked back before turning again to head towards the bathroom.

* * *

Troi could never sit still for very long, so to no one's surprise, she began to pace the small motel room while Dean showered and Sam sat on the clean bed. Sam was listening to something on his phone over and over again, and each time Troian noticed him smile at the same part. "What has you acting like a love-sick puppy?" Troi finally threw at her brother.

"Hey, I'm not a love-sick animal" Sam chuckled as he tossed a pillow at Troi. "Can you stop, please?"

"Stop what?" Troi asked innocently as she looked over at Sam.

"Wearing a groove in the carpet. Sit!"

With a sigh, Troian threw herself down on the foot of the bed Sam was already occupying. Once she settled against Sam's shins, Troi felt a hand against her shoulder. "What is it?" she asked.

"Listen- it's why I was a sick animal in love" Sam explain. He hit play and suddenly a high-pitched female voice came from the speaker. _Hey Sammy, it's me, Jess. It's about 10:20 Saturday night and I was just missing you. I've been baking cookies non-stop like some Martha Stewart. You should come home soon, I love you!_

Troian smiled at the end and saw Sam's face light up at the sight of his twin's smile. She knew exactly what he was feeling, but she wanted to hear exactly from him. "You like her, huh?"

"No," Sam scoffed "I don't like her. I love Jess and uh, I'm thinking about getting her a ring."

Just as Troian was about to answer, Dean came busting out of the bathroom, clean again. "Hey dudes. I'm starving, I'm gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You want anything?"

"No" both Troi and Sam answered in unison.

"Aframian's buying" he offered again.

"Nope" Troian smiled as Sam shot his head again.

"Fine, be back eventually" Dean said as he shrugged his jacket on and left.

Once the door clicked closed, Troi spun around and faced Sam on the bed. He was leaning up against the headboard, hand folded on his stomach while his legs were bent. "So, when did you know?" she prodded.

"Hah, uh couple months after our 6 month" he answered shyly. "I haven't gone shopping yet, but-".

"Makes sense" Troi smiled as Sam's phone began to ring. "But you have to take me with you."

"What?" Sam said into the phone after he nodded at Troian his confirmation.

_Dude, five-oh, take off_ Dean said into the phone. "What about you?" Sam asked as he stood up. _Uh, they kinda spotted me. Go find Dad!_


	5. Trouble

_**Trouble**_

Dean hung up the phone and turned to face the two deputies started towards him. AS much as he knew it wouldn't work, Dean tried to channel as much Troi as he could. "Problem, officers?" he smiled as charmingly as he could.

"Where are your partners?" Deputy Jaffe asked as he got in closer to Dean

"Partners? What partners? I don't usually enjoy threesomes, but uh, I guess I can give it a shot" he chuckled. Deputy Jaffe jerked his thumb towards the motel room he just came out of. _Shit, no! _Dean thought as he saw Deputy Hein approach the door.

"So," Deputy Jaffe started again "fake US Marshal, fake credit cards. You got anything real?"

"My boobs" Dean smiled back sarcastically, and happy to see the twins were no longer in the room after Hein burst into it.

Jaffe slammed Dean down onto the hood of his car and forced his feet apart. Dean's cheek stung from where it collided with the cool metal of the police car. The most Dean would say was a groan of discomfort as more cool metal slapped against his wrists. "You have the right to remain silent-" Deputy Hein started with his Miranda rights.

* * *

"He just wants us to leave him?" Troi asked once Sam flew off the bed.

"Yep. Got spotted and from the looks of it going to be arrested" Sam replied from where he was peeking out the window.

"Why do you say that?" Troi asked.

"He's being an ass. Come on, time to go!"

Troian followed Sam to the bathroom and peered up at their chance for escape. "This is why Dad always insists on first or second floor rooms, huh?" she chatted nervously.

"You want help up or down?" Sam snickered at his sister.

"Down, ass" she spat, sending Sam a look of disdain.

"As you wish" he laughed before pulling himself through the small window. Once he had made sure the alley was clear, Sam whistled for Troi to come through.

Troi heard the whistle and reached for the window just above her head. She wasn't as tall as Sam was- actually not even close. Troi was closer to Dean's height, and even then Dean was 4 inches shorter. Sam made it look so easy when he pulled himself up, but it would be easier for her to wiggle through the opening. "Please don't drop me" Troi panted once her shoulders were through.

"Got no faith in me, I see how it is" Sam winked as he held up his arms to reassure his sister.

"Perhaps I have too much" Troi kidded as she pushed herself out further. As soon as her waist was clear, Sam reached up and held on as she continued to wiggle out. Once enough of her was through the window, Sam pulled the rest of his sister through and down into the alley.

* * *

Dean's hands were both cuffed in front of him on a plain grey table when the sheriff finally walked in. Sheriff Pierce, as his nametag read, was carrying a large box that held most of the paper work in John's motel room. As soon as the box hit the table in front of Dean, he spotted an old leather journal right on top.

"So, you want to give us your real name?" the sheriff sighed as he sat down across from Dean.

I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent" he answered confidently and exasperated that no one believed him.

"I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in here" Sheriff Pierce warned.

"We talkin', like, misdemeanor kind of trouble, or uh, squeal like a pig trouble?" Dean chuckled at the situation. He was never good with serious matters, even though he tried to be. It was usually Troian's cool collected personality that got them out of trouble- or her flirting that helped. It seemed her and Sam was exactly the same in these situations.

"You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall, along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo-jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect."

"That makes sense" Dean answered, now upset by the sheer stupidity of the accusations. "Because when the first one went missing in '82 I was three."

"I know you've got partners. One of 'em's an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing. So tell me, Dean" Sheriff Pierce countered as he slammed something onto the table. It was the leather-covered journal Dean saw in the box- John's hunter's journal. "This his?" he asked again as he began to flip through it.

Dean couldn't help but tear his gaze away from the pages as they were flipped through. Each page was filled with scribbles or newspaper clippings. Occasionally Dean would catch sight of a drawing or picture in a corner of the page.

"I thought that might be your name. See, I leafed through this, what I could make out. I mean its nine kinds of crazy. But I found this, too" Sheriff said as he flipped directly to a page. All that was written on it was _Dean 35-111_. "Now, you're stayin' right here till you tell me exactly what the hell that means."

* * *

Troi took the liberty of driving while Sam directed her to the old house. Joseph Welch, it seemed, lived just out of town on a large piece of land. As Troian threw the car in park, Sam read over the article one more time in an attempt to gather as many facts as he could.

Sam peeked into an open window while Troian went to knock on the door. "Hi," she greeted, alerting Sam to come over "are you Joseph Welch?"

The older man looked weary at the two on his doorstep. "Yeah."

The old man was coaxed out of his house by a picture Sam had from the article. Troian and Sam both walked on either side of Joseph as they made their way down the junk-ridden driveway. Once they were outside, Sam asked Joseph if John's picture looked familiar. "Yeah, he was older, but that's him." Joseph answered as he handed Sam back the picture.

"He came by three or four days ago. Said he was a reporter."

"That's right, we're working on a story together" Troi smiled.

"Well, I don't know what the hell kinda story you're workin' on. The questions he asked me-."

"About your wife Constance?" Troi asked even though she knew the answer.

"He asked me where she was buried" Joseph huffed.

"A-and where is that again?" Sam broke in.

"What, I gotta go through this twice?" Joseph shouted at Sam.

"It's fact- checking, if you don't mind" Troi shrugged since she knew Sam climbed his way onto Joseph's short list.

"In a plot, behind my old place over on Breckenridge" he answered kindly.

"And why'd you move?" Sam dared to ask again,

Troi smiled behind Joseph's back at her brother's audacity, and judging by the quick smirk Sam had on his face he saw Troi's smile.

"You know, that guy asked the same question when he was here. You two have to communicate better" Joseph snapped at Sam. "I'm not gonna live in the house where my children died!"

Sam had stopped walking once Joseph snapped at him again, causing everyone else to stop in their tracks. "Mr. Welch, did you ever remarry?" Sam dared as he kicked the dirt with his shoes.

"No way, Constance, she was the love of my life. Prettiest woman I ever known."

"So you had a happy marriage?" Troi asked cheerily.

Joseph hesitated to answer, but finally did answer. "Definitely."

"Well, that should do it, thank you for your time" Troi smiled as she gave Joseph's arm a squeeze. She began to walk towards the Impala when she realized Sam was not following. "Sammy" she called for him.

"Uh, Mr. Welch, did you ever hear of a woman in white?" Sam shouted up the driveway to the old man.

"A what?"

"A woman in white," Sam repeated "Or sometimes a weeping woman?"

"It's a ghost story," Troi interrupted "well more so a phenomenon really. They are spirits and have been sighted for years- hundreds of years in dozens of places in Hawaii, Mexico, lately in Arizona and Indiana. All these are different woman, but share the same story."

Sam piped back up now that Troian pulled him back from the edge of exposing a civilian to the real cause behind what goes bump in the night. "See, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them. And when these women basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children." Joseph turned to glare at Sam for insinuating he had cheated on Constance. "Then once they realized what they had down, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking back roads, waterways. And if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him. And that man is never seen again."

"You think…you think that has something to do with…Constance? You smartass!" Joseph spat at Sam as he began to walk towards him.

"You tell me" Sam stood his ground.

"I mean, maybe…maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance she never would have killed her own children. Now you get the hell out of here! And don't you come back!"

"We are going, I promise. Sorry to upset you" Troi stepped in as she pulled Sam with her. "Sorry again."

* * *

"I don't know how many times I gotta tell you. It's my high school locker combo" Dean smirked as he fiddled with the handcuffs around his sore wrists.

"We gonna do this all night long?" Sheriff Pierce asked with a smile as he leaned back in his chair.

A deputy poked his head into the interrogation room and cleared his throat to announce his visit. "We just got a 911, shots fired over at Whiteford Road."

Dean glanced up at the Sheriff and could see the frustration rise in his face for being interrupted and ultimately ending the interrogation. "You should go check it out" Dean smirked across the table, since he expected something like this to just happen.

"You have to go to the bedroom?" Sheriff Pierce growled, almost as if it was his prisoner's fault that he was being pulled away.

"No" Dean answered.

"Good" Sheriff Pierce spat as he handcuffed Dean to the bar in front of him on the table.

As the door closed, Dean felt his stomach drop at the fact that he may not be able to get out after all. But then Dan's eyes fell on John's journal still sitting in front of him and the shiny silver paper clip sticking out from a couple pages.

* * *

Troi agreed to let Sam drive the Impala back from Joseph Welch's house since he kept bugging her. The sun had begun to set again as Sam sped back to the vicinity of the Jericho's Sheriff Station to pick up Dean. Troi sat in the passenger seat looking out the window when her cell phone began to ring in her lap. "You got out I see" Troi smiled as she spoke into her razor.

"Have Sammy drop you off then go back on the highway, call him in a bit" Dean ordered before hanging up.

Troian stared at her phone for a few seconds before snapping it shut. She knew Dean must have learned something by the tone of his voice, but she was still taken aback. "Drop me off, Dean'll call you in a few" Troi said flatly.

"Uh, alright, are you okay?"

"Just drop me off" she said again while gathering her bag. "Now, Sam."

* * *

Sam had eased over to the side of the road a few miles back to drop Troi off and drove towards the bridge alone. For his twin to just jump out of the car on command, something must have either been very wrong or been discovered. Knowing the situation they were already in, Sam found it almost impossible to get worse. Dean or Troian had to have gotten new information- but why wasn't he allowed to know? Suddenly his phone began to ring on the seat next to him. "Yeah" he answered without checking to see who was calling.

"Fake 911 call? Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal" Dean chuckled into an old payphone.

"You're welcome" Sam grinned from the other end.

"Listen, we gotta talk" Dean sighed.

"Tell me about it. So the husband _was _unfaithful. We _are_ dealing with a woman in white. And she's buried behind her old house, so that should have been Dad's next stop" Sam rambled.

"Sammy, would you shut up a second?"

"I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet" Sam continued to ramble.

That's what I'm trying to tell ya'! He's gone. Dad left Jericho" Dean interrupted.

"What? How do you know?"

"I've got his journal. He doesn't go anywhere without it, but he did this time."

"What does it say?"

"Ah, the same old ex- Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he's going."

"Coordinates. Where to?" Sam asked, now fully intrigued.

"I'm not sure yet" Dean admitted, knowing it would only bug his genius brother even more to no end.

"I don't understand, I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?"

Before getting an answer, out of nowhere a pale figure approached in the middle of the lane, her white dress blowing softly in the wind of it was real fabric. Sam dropped his phone in order to put both hands on the wheel and stomped on the car's brakes.

Sam was going too fast to stop in time and the front end of the Impala barreled right through the pale woman; eventually the car stopped a few yards away from where he saw her. Once the car was stopped, Sam turned around to see if she reappeared in the road. Much to Sam's disbelief, he found Constance Welch, the pale woman dressed in white sitting in the back seat. "Take me home" she ordered quietly.

**AN: Sorry for the wait, this was the longest one ever! My school schedule this semester is killing me slowly with it's song. I am trying to update as soon as I can, thank you for hanging in there with me! Tell me what you think, I enjoy writing this story as much I hope you enjoy reading it! Much love, and in the words of Jared.."always keep fighting"!**


	6. Danger

_**Danger**_

"Take me home" Constance ordered quietly from the backseat of the Impala.

"No" Sam flat out answered, with no reservations, or hesitations.

Constance glared up at Sam while Dean continued to scream his brother's name. Her anger drove the doors' locks down, keeping Sam stuck in the car. Suddenly the car rocketed forward at top speed while Sam struggled with the windows and doors. Sam realized the doors were stuck, so he settled for trying to take control of the car back, but Constance also had complete control over driving. There was nothing Sam could do, but he refused to give up, even long after Sam arrived at an old, run down shack-looking house. He glanced up in the rearview mirror to judge Constance's reaction, and instead she was gone again.

Constance reappeared on the seat next to Sam as the Impala's engine cut power. Her pale face showed signs of sadness and dread as she looked up at her old home. "I can never go home" Constance whimpered.

Sam had a fleeting moment of panic- he had a gut feeling that Constance was going to try and get her way with him or hurt him. Maybe both. "Don't do this" he pleaded. "You're scared to go him, aren't you?"

The spirit of Constance Welch didn't answer Sam; instead she looked him over with her still sad eyes. She began to flicker as Constance used her energy to shift in the shotgun seat. She slowly made her way across the bench seats and into Sam's open lap. With one swift, strong push, Constance had Sam pinned back to the seat, despite his struggles.

"Hold me, I am so cold" she whined from Sam's lap.

"You can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful, I've never been unfaithful" Sam grunted as he continued to struggle against Constance.

"You will be, just hold me" Constance smirked before leaning in to kiss him.

Sam struggled while Constance's cold lips pressed into his own warm ones and tried desperately to reach the keys still hanging from the ignition. Constance must have sensed Sam's fight to freedom, for she pulled away and let herself disappear from Sam's sight. The only warning Sam saw was the quick flash of a face that looked as if it had been decomposing for a few months during the hot summer months, but it quickly vanished. Sam was stunned by the sudden vision and found himself looking around for Constance, or an escape.

The peace didn't last long though. A scream was forged and made its escape from Sam's open and contorted mouth. His trembling hands clawed at the burning pain on his chest and yanked his hoodie open. Sam found five holes burned straight through the fabric of his clothing, matching Constance's fingers, which was once again visible, reaching deep into his chest.

The sound of a gunshot and shattering glass brought Sam's concentration from the pain and drew his focus to where the shot came from. His eyes fell on Troi holding a shotgun and Dean standing behind her, pointing one of his own. The first shot did nothing to Constance but anger her, so Troian kept firing until she disappeared again.

Finding the strength, Sam began to sit up and reached for the keys once again. "I am taking you home" he groaned as he steered the car straight for the dilapidated house. Dean hurried towards the passenger side of the crashed car while Troian ran straight for Sam.

"Sam! Sam! You okay?" Dean yelled as he ran to the car.

"I think" he muttered while quickly doing a mental checklist of his injuries.

"Can you move?" Troi sniffled through the broken window.

"Yeah, help me" he answered as he opened the car door.

Troi threw the door open and leaned in to help Sam out. Despite the size difference, Troian was able to pull Sam out and steady him on his feet with an arm strewn over her shoulder.

Dean watched as Constance picked up a framed picture from the rubble and cleared the dust from it. A woman and her children were laughing towards the camera- they were young and happy. Troi closed the car door and both she and Sam looked up to see her throw the frame down and a chest thrown towards them and pin them to a wall. Dean was too pinned to a wall by a large trunk, also flung by Constance.

The once burnt out lights began to flicker as a steady stream of water began to pour down the dirty steps. Constance slowly made her way over to the staircase and glanced up to see a young boy and girl, soaked, holding hands, and speaking in chorus. "You've come home to us, Mommy."

Constance appeared distraught as the children suddenly appeared behind her. They both wrapped their mother in a tight hug, causing her image to flicker and melt them into a puddle on the floor.

"So this is where she drowned her kids" Troi grunted as she pushed the chest off of her and her twin.

Dean nodded as he too pushed the trunk away from his legs.

"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them" Sam added.

"We found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy" Troi patted her brother square on the chest, right where Constance dug into him.

"Ah, hah" Sam laughed around the pain. "Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking, shooting Casper in the face, you freak?"

"Hey, saved your ass, and gets you home in time for your law school interview" she smiled.

Dean had taken to checking over his precious Baby while Sam and Troi were talking. "I'll tell you something," Dean warned when there was a break in conversation "if you screwed up my car? I'll kill you."

* * *

Sam happily agreed to rest in the backseat of the Impala while they fled to Jericho. Troi was sitting in the front passenger seat while she poured over her father's journal. "Why didn't he write my name? Why just yours" she whined as she searched for the coordinates 35 degrees North- 111degrees West on a map of the United States. Dean ignored her questions while she studied the map. "Okay, here's where Dad went" she sighed as she drew a circle on the map. "Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."

"Sounds charming," Dean nodded "how far?"

"About 600 miles" Troi shrugged as she went back to flipping through John's journal.

"Hey, if we shag ass we could make it by morning" Dean announced excitedly after quickly doing the math in his head.

Sam opened his eyes and glanced up to the rearview mirror, allowing him to study his brother's face until he too glanced at it. When he finally did, he saw hope in Dean's bright green eyes. "Dean, I, um-" Sam stuttered.

"-You're not going" Dean guessed.

"The interview's in like, ten hours. I gotta be there."

Dean's gaze dropped back to the road, disappointed, and nodded his head in understanding. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever" he mumbled as he glanced up in the mirror again, then over at Troian. She had tears brimming her hazel eyes, threatening to escape, but she remained strong and continued to look over the full pages. Perhaps it would have been better for Troi if they had not gone to get Sam, she would be fine right now. "I'll take you home" Dean mumbled as he carried on, back to Palo Alto and Stanford.

* * *

They pulled up in front of the apartment building and looked up at the lit windows. Sam opened up the squeaky door while his brother and sister kept peering up. He leaned on Troian's open window and put a hand on her shoulder. "Call me if you find him?" he asked of Troi.

"Only if you call first with good news" she rebutted, earning her a smile and nod from her older twin. "Good" she smiled sadly back.

"And maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" Sam asked Dean, who was still frowning.

"Yeah, alright" he nodded before Sam turned to walk away.

"Sam?" Troi squeaked. Once he turned, Sam could see the pain in her similar to his eyes. "You know, we all made a helluva team back there."

"Yeah" Sam winked as he waked away and Dean put the car back in gear.

As Dean drove, Troi became aware of a pit growing in her stomach and no matter how she turned or fidgeted the feeling only got worse. "Dean, stop please" she muttered.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked as he jerked the car off the road as quickly as possible.

"Something's- I just, I can't explain but something isn't right."

Dean knew what Troi meant, but probably didn't feel it as strongly as he did. He hadn't wanted to give in to the feeling of dread rising in his throat, yet he was over joyed with Troian spoke up. "I know, felt it too. Tell ya what. We'll sit outside for the night just in case and leave in the morning for Blackwater Ridge" Dean assured.

"Sounds fine," Troi sighed as she closed her eyes to the relief she suddenly felt expressed as tears "softy."

Dean smiled at her joke and made a quick U-turn to head back to Palo Alto.

* * *

"Jess?" Sam called out through the now opened door. "You home?" He didn't get a response, but saw a plate full of chocolate chip cookies and a note _Missed you, Love you!_ next to a National Geographic magazine. Sam helped himself to a cookie and the magazine as he made way to the shared bedroom. He collapsed down onto the bed when he heard the shower running. Sam closed his eyes to the lingering smell of baked cookies and felt a smile grow in his tired face.

Sam felt a warm drop land on his forehead, followed closely by a second; he flinched at the feeling and popped an eye open to see his nightmares come alive. Jessica was pinned to the ceiling above him, staring down at him; her white silk nightgown was stained red and saturated by her blood.

"No!" Sam shouted as he sat up on the bed. Jess burst into flames that quickly spread across the ceiling. Down the hall, Dean kicked down the front door and let Troian run in ahead of him.

"Sam!" she and Dean called out at the same time. It was Troi who found Sam veering his face from the heat on his bed, but she was frozen in place by the sigh above her. It was Dean who went and pulled Sam up, despite the cries of no, which he kept repeating.

"Jess! Jess! No" Sam screamed as Dean dragged him out of the building with Troian following close to Dean's leather jacket.

* * *

Dean and Troian both watched as Palo Alto's firefighters walked back to their trucks. Troi let out a sigh before turning to walk back to the car were Sam was. He was messing around in the trunk but looked up when he felt his sister hug him from the side. Dean soon joined and stood on Sam's other side. Sam peeked up at his brother's face to judge his mood since he could judge Troi's just by her touch. Dean was beyond angry- same as he and Troi both felt. This _thing_ had won again, killed Jess just like their mother was killed.

"We have work to do" Sam snapped as he slammed the trunk closed and put an arm around Troi, who was still attached to his side.

**AN: Thank you for reading! This marks the end of "Pilot", which I do not own. Keep an eye out for more to come and don't forget to tell me what you think! **


	7. Lectures and Permits

_**Lectures and Permits**_

Sam sighed as he walked up to a granite headstone with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. _Jessica Lee Moore, Beloved Daughter, January 24, 1984- November, 2, 2005_. That date was stuck in his head forever, and now here was another reason to never forget it. November 2nd was the night John would grow quiet around his children and drown his feelings in the closest bottle he could find. This year, November 2nd was the night Sam watched the love of his life burn on the ceiling the same way his mother died while he ate cookies.

Sam's eyes caught the small picture of Jess on her headstone- she looked so perfect, so beautiful there. Someone else had left a teddy bear and wooden cross already, while the small American flag still sat where the grounds keeper put it a couple days ago. Sam suddenly remembered the flowers he was holding and knelt down in front of the stone. "I uh," he started to say, but stopped himself, "you always said roses were lame, so I brought you anything but them." He looked away as tears began to threaten his strong facade. Sam quickly looked up in an attempt to choke them back then scooted closer to the stone. "Jess, oh God" he sniffled as he leaned back on his heels. "I should have protected you. I should have told you the truth."

Sam leaned forward to place the flowers next to the flag and teddy bear, when suddenly a hand shot out of the ground and took hold of Sam's wrist.

* * *

Sam jerked awake in the seat next to his brother, Dean. Troian sat reclined in the backseat of the Impala once again writing in her hunter's journal about the events of this past hunt and November 2nd. When Sam jerked awake, she glanced up at her twin, but Dean beat her to the question swimming in her mind. "You okay?" he asked Sam in a husky voice, as if he had not spoken in a couple hours.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Sam answered as he looked out the window at the quickly passing landscape and trees.

Dean nodded and glanced back at Troi. "Another nightmare?"

Sam cleared his throat and looked straight ahead.

"You want to drive for a while?" Dean asked again, hoping to get a reaction out of Sam.

Sam laughed at the question and turned to face his brother. "Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that."

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind" Dean scoffed as he turned his focus back to the long yellow snake in front of him and the music quietly playing from the radio.

"Look man, you're worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay" Sam replied.

"Bullshit you're okay" Troi finally spoke up from the back the same time Dean mumbled an acknowledgement.

"Alright," Sam cleared his throat "where are we?"

"We are just outside of Grand Junction" Dean answered coolly.

"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon" Sam spoke up.

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica, we gotta find Dad first" Troi said kindly. She understood Sam's pain, but she never believed in sugar coating a bad situation. "Dad disappearing and this thing showing up after 20 years, it's no coincidence."

"Dad'll have answers; he'll know what to do" Dean agreed with Troi's statement.

"It's weird though. These coordinates he left us" Sam rationalized out loud.

"Alright, I'll bite" Troi sighed. "What about it?"

"There's nothing there. It's just woods" Sam answered as he put down the map.

"Why would he send us to the middle of nowhere?" Dean asked as he drove past a sign welcoming them to Lost Creek, Colorado National Forest.

* * *

Dean parked the Impala in an open spot next to the Lost Creek Ranger Station sign. Troi stood next to the car while Sam and Dean both stretched their sore, cramped legs. She was often jealous of their height, but at times like these Troian found it hilarious and lucky her legs were shorter. "Stop your smirking" Sam mumbled as he walked past her and into the ranger station.

"Can't help it" she smiled as she followed after him.

Sam and Dean both found themselves looking down on a 3-D map of the area as Troi perused the bulletin board full of missing hikers and snake or bear season warnings.

"So, Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote" Sam informed his siblings.

"It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver, and gold mines all over the place."

"Dude, check out this bear" Dean shouted from where he was now standing at another bulletin board.

Sam and Troi both looked over at the same time and walked over to where their older brother was standing. The picture was of a man holding his rifle behind his kill. The darkly colored bear was easily three times the size of the man, who only looked like a spec in the photo. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure" Sam gawked.

"You three aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" Ranger Wilkinson asked from behind the three Winchesters. They were all startled by the sudden voice behind them and all whipped around at the same time. The Ranger was surprised by the three similar faces now peering back at him with an equally similar look.

"Oh no, sir, we're environmental studies majors from CU Boulder, just working on a paper" Sam lied once he recovered from the initial shock.

"Recycle, man!" Dean threw in with a fist bump to try and sell the story. Troi and Sam both flicked their eyes back at Dean, each communicating to each other this was going to bust.

"Are you two twins?" the ranger asked, poking a hole in their story already.

"Yes sir" Troi mumbled as she hung her head.

"You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" Ranger Wilkinson dared.

Dean considered the question and how he could get away with no information on this person, but he wasn't really seeing any other way out. "Yes. Yes we are, Ranger Wilkinson."

"Well, I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a back-country permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the 24th. So it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?"

"No, sir" Troi mumbled out again. It was really starting to feel like a lecture to her now, and Troi had no idea what she directly did to deserve this. It didn't help to hear Sam's mischievous laugh next to her; in fact it made her feel like she was in more serious trouble.

"You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine" the ranger said as he pulled his thumbs through his belt loops to hitch them up higher on his hips.

"Of course, sir" Troi responded to her feet again, earning a snort out of her twin.

"Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean smiled at the ranger in an attempt to pull his attention away from the twins.

"That's putting it mildly."

"Actually you know what'll help is if I could show her a copy of that permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date" Dean smooth talked.

Troi was first to burst out of the ranger station and breathed a huge sigh of relief once she reached the car. "Anyone else felt like a whoopin' was coming?" she asked as Sam and Dean both caught up to her. Sam laughed hard as he sat down in the passenger seat while Dean gave her a worried look.

"What are you looking for a hookup or something?" Sam asked once everyone was back in the car.

"What do you mean?" Dean answered the question directed right at him.

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam rationalized. They had what they needed, why help some girl find her not-yet-missing brother?

"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean asked sarcastically. When he got no response, he snapped this time. "What!"

"Since when are you all shoot first, ask questions later, Sammy?" Troi asked concerned from the backseat.

"Since now" he snapped back to Troian.

"Really?" both Troi and Dean asked surprised at the same time.


	8. Victims and Survivors

_**Victims and Survivors **_

Dean pulled the Impala along the curb outside the home address on the back country permit. Sam looked out the window at the house with longing in his eyes. The apartment Sam had was the closest he ever came to having a home, but some monster took it from him. Troian also glanced at the house then back at her brothers. "So uh, we going?" she broke the silence.

Huh? Yeah" Dean and Sam both answered as they opened their doors. Troi lead the way up the walkway with Sam and Dean right behind her. The door opened right as they got up to it.

"You must be Haley Collins" Troi smiled. "I'm Troian, this is Sam and Dean. We're uh, rangers with the park serve. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother, Tommy."

Haley's eyes bounced between the three similar looking faces on her porch. "L-let me see some ID" she barked through the still closed screed door. Troi pulled her fake ID out first, signaling Dean and Sam to do the same. Troi put hers against the screen and let Haley read Rachel Gilmore's name on the badge. "Come on in" she nodded as she opened the screen door.

"Thanks" Troi smiled as she stepped in.

"That yours?" Haley asked once both boys stepped in.

"Yeah" Dean smiled over his shoulder. Sam and Troian both glanced back at Dean and Haley and couldn't help the smile on their faces.

"Come in" Haley said walking past both Sam and Troi and into the kitchen.

"So," Sam spoke up "if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?"

"He checks in every day by cell. He emails photos, stupid little videos- we haven't heard anything in over three days now."

Troi seemed to be the only one who agreed with Haley. All she could think about was what if it was Dean, or even Sam in Tommy's position. What would she do? How could she find help?

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception" Sam shrugged.

"He's got a satellite phone, too" Haley rebutted quickly as she turned on him.

"Could it be he's not having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean suggested.

"He wouldn't do that" a younger boy that until recently was sitting quietly at the table behind a laptop. Dean looked down at the boy, who quickly looks away from Dean and instead at the food his sister had put on the table.

"Our parents are gone. It's just Ben, Tommy, and I. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other" Haley informed the skeptics.

"I understand that" Troian piped in. "But we aren't here about my family. Can I see the pictures he sent you?" she asked Ben.

"Yeah" Ben said pushing the laptop towards an open spot at the table. Troi sat down and soon felt Sam lean behind her. She easily maneuvered through the files from earlier ones to most recent ones sent.

Troi came across the last file, which was much more than just a picture- it was a short video. She glanced up at Sam, who gave her a short nod to continue.

_Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow _Tommy's voice said through the computer's speaker.

Troi could have sworn she saw a shadow in the corner, but she wasn't able to replay it, as Dean began to talk again. "Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing."

"Then maybe I'll see you there" Haley said. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

Troi was surprised to hear Haley had taken things into her own hands, but was also worried about her safety. "Hey, uh, can you forward these to me?" Troi asked sweetly.

"Sure" Ben nodded as he pulled the laptop back over to him.

* * *

Troian walked into the bar with Sam behind her and made her way over to an empty booth in the back corner. The sounds of pool balls breaking and bottles clinking were familiar sounds to her; they were the most familiar thing she grew up with. She settled into a spot against the wall, allowing one of her brothers to slide in next to her. To no surprise, Dean settled in across from her as Sam slid in next to her.

"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But sill, this past April two hikers went missing out here. They were never found" Sam informed his siblings.

"Any before that?" Dean asked while Troi signaled for three beers.

Sam pulled out a couple newspaper articles from where they were folded in the back of John's journal and handed them to Dean. "Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack. And again in 1959, every 23 years, just like clockwork."

While Sam was talking Troi had dug her laptop out of her bag and opened it up to Tommy's video. "Here, watch this" Troi said as she flipped through three frames, revealing a shadow traveling across the screen.

"Whoa" Sam gasped.

"Do it again" Dean asked as he leaned closer to the laptop.

Troi smirked as she clicked through the three frames again. "That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move."

Dean looked up from the computer screen and straight at Sam. "Told you something weird was going on" he joked as he slapped Sam's shoulder.

"Yeah," Sam chuckled "I got one more thing. In '59 one camper survived the attack. Just a kid, barely crawled out of the woods alive."

"Well, is there a name?" Troi pressured with a grin.

* * *

Sam could not understand why he was always a magnet for older people, but this day was no different than any other day. The second the Winchesters introduced themselves, Mr. Shaw, the bear attack survivor, latched on to Sam and answered every question to him. Poor Sam found his eyes trained on the cigarette in his mouth while Dean and Troi giggled about him behind his back.

"Look, Ranger," Shaw began "I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record, I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a-"

"Grizzly?" Sam interrupted. "That's what attacked them?"

Shaw didn't answer; he could barely make eye contact with Sam after the interruption. Instead, he only removed the short cigarette from the corner of his mouth and nodded.

"The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too? What about this year? Same thing?" Troi asked, clearly exasperated with the way Shaw was covering things up. "If we knew what we are dealing with, we may be able to stop it."

"I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make" Shaw told Sam as he sat down. "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did."

Sam sat down opposite Mr. Shaw and tried to swallow all negative feeling before opening his mouth again. They were on the verge of discovering what this creature could be, there was no way this could be screwed up. "Mr. Shaw, what did you see?" Sam pleaded.

There was a pause from Mr. Shaw and it made everyone nervous. "Nothing, it moved to fast to see" he finally answered. "It hid too well, I heard it, though. A roar, like…no man or animal I ever heard."

"It came at night?" Dean asked from somewhere across the room, opposite of where Sam was sitting with this new found friend. Shaw nodded. "Got inside your tent?" Dean asked again.

"It got inside our cabin" Shaw corrected. "I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming."

"It killed them?" Troi gasped. She was surprised to hear what this could do- ruled out the possibility that it couldn't be part or mostly human.

"Dragged them off into the night" Shaw explained to Sam. "Why it left me alive…been asking myself that ever since. Did leave me this though."

Shaw raised his hand to his collar on the old, dirty brown shirt that looked like he lived in. Underneath, Sam was the first to see the puckered skin, formed into a memory of the four claws that once sliced Mr. Shaw's chest. Sam has never been squeamish when it came to injuries, but this time he felt his stomach flip at the sight of the old scars.

As Sam stumbled back, Dean and Troi moved in closer to see what spooked Sam so. Troian's eyes grew wide at the sight of the scars, but Dean's stayed the same, and in fact he barely reacted to them. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of demon" Shaw said, this time directly to Dean.

* * *

Dean and Sam walked side by side down the motel's hallway with Troian a few steps in the front of them. This was her least favorite part of their life-sleeping in seedy motels with two boys and no privacy always put Troi in a bad mood.

She was half listening to her brothers' conversation, but once they started talking about the case, her ears perked up. "Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they went inside, they just go through walls" Dean thought out loud.

"NO shit, Dean" Troi spat back.

"Shut it, Troi" he shouted back to her.

"So it's probably something like else, something corporeal" Sam smirked as he walked through the open motel room door behind Troi. She of course already claimed a bed, so now he would have to fight for the other.

"Corporeal? Excuse me professor" Dean laughed as he closed and locked the door.

"Shut up," Sam chuckled "so what do you think?" He had stuck his hands out in the classic rock, paper, scissors position towards Dean.

"Well, the claws, speed that it moves…could be a skin walker, maybe a black dog" Troi said from her bed while Sam and Dean battled for the remaining bed. "Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it."

"Dammit!" Dean yelled.

"You always lose, why would this time be different?" Troi laughed as she leaned back on her bed.

"Screw you, Troian" Dean pouted as he threw a pillow at her.

"Don't worry, you'll win one day" she smiled as she settled down into the thin sheets of her bed while Dean got comfortable on the stained floor.


	9. Voices in the Woods

_**Voices in the Woods**_

As Dean grew restless without a bed to sit on, Sam and Troi grew hungry. Troi was just like Dean in the fact that she loved to eat, but she preferred healthy food. She was also very observant and could tell by the way Dean kept glancing around, he had to get out. "You hungry, Sammy?" she asked her twin. He had been staring at his laptop, but when asked the question, glanced over at her and offered a sad half-smile and nod. "Alright then, Dean and I'll go get some food" she announced as she tossed the leather jacket on her bed to its owner.

* * *

"What's up with him?" Dean asked Troian as soon as they were down the hall a ways and out of Sam's hearing range.

"Doesn't want to have anything to do with this case. He just wants to find Dad and get revenge for Jess with him" Troi explained to Dean. The way he reacted to Mr. Shaw's scars was a mixture of some surprise and mostly regrets to see it was an honest case.

"We can't let Haley go out there" Dean mumbled once they got outside to the parking lot.

"Oh yeah? What are we going to tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?"

"Yeah" Dean agreed, since Troi's train of thought sounded good enough for him.

"Her brother's missing! I sympathize. What if I was her and it was Sam missing- would you let anyone tell me to sit at home on my hands? Would you tell me that? And do you honestly think I'd be a good girl and listen?" Troi argued the rest of the way to the Impala. Dean was suddenly very sorry for opening his mouth and agreeing with the trap Troi just caught him in.

"Fine, but don't make me do the babysitting" Dean laughed as he collapsed into the driver's seat.

"Don't you worry you're pretty little head" Troi kidded as she too sat down in the car.

"Ya know" Dean cleared his throat as he pulled out of the parking spot. "I should really know by now not to get in your way when it comes to missing brothers. But why are you like that?"

Troian considered Dean's question and couldn't help but feel the smile spread across her face. She always felt the protectiveness towards her brothers, but never knew where it came from. "you two are all I have left" she admitted. "I mean yeah there's Dad, but he wasn't the one who raised me. You did most of it, and Sam was always there when you weren't. Every time you weren't with Sam and me, I was worried out of my mind."

Tears began to run down her cheeks somewhere between her pauses, but they hadn't been born out of sadness or happiness. Instead they came from the worry and those memories. Dean recognized that and slipped his arm over the back of the bench seat. He never allowed John or Sam to know, but he constantly let Troian cry or curl up into his side while they drove. This time was no different; Troi took her cue to slide over to his side. "One of us will always be with you, and we aren't going anywhere" Dean soothed as he continued to the nearest diner.

* * *

The next morning Dean, Sam and Troian arrived at the trail head, as they had told Haley and Ben. What they didn't expect however was to see an older man with Haley and her brother. "Ugh, god I hate trail guides" Troi whined before getting out of the car.

"Easy there, Tiger" Dean chuckled as he climbed out. "Play nice."

As the Winchesters got closer, they could make out the conversation Haley and their guide were having. "I'll tell you again, I don't think Ben should come, Haley" he said

"Roy-" Haley warned, but she soon got distracted by the classic car and three familiar strangers coming closer.

"Got room for three more?" Dean shouted up towards the group.

"Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley asked surprised. She noticeable sized up the three supposed rangers; all three were wearing jeans and only one had a pack in the form of a military duffle bag.

"Who are you guys?" Roy asked Haley as they got closer.

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue" she answered as Troi and Dean joined their cluster, while Sam kept walking.

"You're rangers?" Roy laughed at the sight.

"That's right" Troi snapped as she got closer to the witty trail guide.

"And you're hiking in biker boots and jeans?"

"Oh hun, I don't do shorts" Troi answered as sarcastically as she could muster and went to join Sam.

"Wait, a-are you two twins?" Roy asked.

"Yeah" Troian and Sam both shrugged at the same time. "And?" Troi threw in.

"What you think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt" Roy lectured the two smiling twins.

Both Sam and Troi turned their backs to the lecture and started down the path, slowly so everyone can catch up to them.

"Believe me," Dean spoke up in his younger siblings' defense "we know how dangerous it can be. We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all."

Roy led the way down the trail with Haley right behind him, Ben, Troi, Dean, and then Sam. They were silent and solemn the whole way to Tommy's camp site, but Dean got tired of the silence soon after leaving the beaten trail. "So Roy" Dean shouted ahead of him as he went to catch up to the trail guide. "You said you did a little hunting?"

Sam and Troi both knew where Dean was heading with this question and they found it hard to keep their thoughts to themselves. "Here we go again" Sam mumbled under his breath.

"Bet whatever you shot didn't shoot back" Troi said in her best Dean impersonation. At least she earned a scoff and a smirk from her brother behind her. Troi always felt better with Sam at her back since she knew he would do anything to keep her safe, so she always tried to make him relax enough to laugh or smile.

"Yeah, more than a little" Roy boasted once it grew quiet behind him.

"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" Dean poked. He as well as Sam and Troian were always against hunting animals for sport. Since she was a kid, Troian would cry her eyes out whenever an animal got hurt. It always pissed John off, but Sam stood behind his twin and Dean always took Sam's side in order to protect him.

"Mostly buck, sometimes bear" Roy shrugged as if it was just another normal day.

"Tell me, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Dean asked as he attempted to pass Roy. Dean felt a hand clamp down on his bicep and forcefully pull him back. "Whatcha doin', Roy?" Dean questioned. It was his attempt to diffuse the situation before Troi broke from the bear hug he was sure Sam had her in now to hold her back.

Roy bent down to pick up a stick from the ground and aggressively thrust it towards a spot on the ground. Two metal claws close around the leaves once covering it and also snapping the stick in half. Haley let out a clearly exasperated sigh as Roy let go of Dean's arm. "You should watch where you're stepping, Ranger" Roy lectured.

Dean could hear a giggle come from his sister as Roy began to walk again. "It's a bear trap" Dean smiled at Haley as he matched her pace.

"You didn't pack any provisions, they are twins, you guys are carrying a duffle bag. You're not rangers!" Haley shouted at Dean.

Dean stopped walking to get out of earshot of Roy and allow the twins to keep going at the same pace. "Sam and Troian are fraternal twins and I'm their older brother and we're looking for our father" Dean admitted. "He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat."

"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?"

"I'm telling you now. 'sides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been a woman…ever. So we okay?"

Haley paused for a moment to consider what Dean said, but found she was drawn like a moth to a flame to his boyish charm. "Yeah, okay" she nodded.

"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean winked as he pulled out a half-eaten bag of peanut M&amp;Ms. He offered Haley a handful, but when she shook her head, he began after the group, occasionally popping one into his mouth.

When they caught back up, Roy announced they were finally at Blackwater Ridge. It looked exactly the same as Lost Creek, but apparently a few steps means a large change. "What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked.

Roy pulled out his GPS and looked at it for a moment before answering. "35 minus 111."

"You hear that?" Dean asked everyone.

"Yeah, not even crickets" Troi marveled at the eerie silence.

"I'll go take a look around" Roy informed the group.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself" Sam warned before even thinking about who he spoke to.

"That's sweet, don't worry about me" Roy winked as he took of further down the trail and around a bend. Roy whistled down the trail as he swung his gun back and forth.

Sam was weirdly happy to see him go, but was still worried ever so slightly for Roy's safety. _Too bad, I'm not going after him_ Sam thought as he turned back to face the group. "Alright, everybody stays together" Sam ordered before going down the same trail Roy had just gone down.

Sam, Dean, and Troian had taken to searching among the rocks for any sign of their father while Haley and ben were doing the same for their brother Tommy. There were almost no sign of human presence and what they did find was a distasteful hunter laying down traps and snares.

Haley and Ben both gave up when they found nothing and both sat down on a large rock while Troi and Sam stood a few feet away discussing their own search. "Dad was always good at covering his steps up" Troi shrugged.

"But not this good" Sam argued. "The only sign of someone being here is weeks old and they had a limp!"

"Haley, over here" Roy interrupted.

Everyone ran towards his voice around yet another blind corner and stopped dead in their tracks. "Oh my God" Haley gasped at the sight.

The tent belonging to their family had been shredded by what appeared to be claws and there was bloody spatter everywhere. Food was strewn all through the dirt and contents of backpacks were thrown every which way.

"Looks like a grizzly" Roy said while Haley looked around at the disaster.

"Tommy?" she called out. "Tommy!"

Before anyone could stop her, she was shrugging off her pack and running through the campsites, yelling at the top of her lungs. Tori sympathized with every scream Haley let out, but she was risking everyone's safety right now. "Hey, shh" she soothed once she caught up to Haley.

"Why, Troi? Huh? Why!"

"Something might still be out there."

"Sam, Troi?" Dean called.

Both met Dean crouched down examining something in the moist dirt. "Yeah?" Sam acknowledged.

"Look, the bodies were dragged. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird."

Troi stood up first and looked up. The trees were tall and situated in places not very close to one another. Sam stood up too and followed her gaze. "I'll tell you what, that's no skin walker or black dog" he whispered.

"I was just thinking that too. They couldn't possibly drag a body then leap into the trees" she agreed. Troi looked down from the trees and her eyes fell on Haley. She was crouching on the ground with some silver thing in her hands.

Troian could see the pain in Haley's eyes and found herself waking slowly towards her. As she got closer, Troian could make out a silver and broken satellite phone in her hand. The phone's screen was cracked and the antenna was crooked. Haley turned the phone over in her hand and a swipe of blood covered the back. She instantly started crying and fell to the dirt. "Whoa, hey. You know he could still be alive" Troi soothed as she crouched down next to her.

"You better be right" Haley sniffled.

Out in the distance a voice echoed through the trees, startling everyone. "Help! Help!" Everyone gathered towards the trail. Roy was standing in front of the group with his gun pointed in the direction of the noise.

"Was that-?" Troi whispered towards Haley. She was cut off by yet another scream rippling through the trees. "Help! Someone!"

Everyone took off at a sprint towards the voice. Roy was originally in the lead, but Dean's long legs eventually earned him the lead. He ran with Roy close behind until they ran into a clearing.

"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Haley asked. No one was in sight and the shouting had stopped.

That's when it dawned on Sam- they all dropped their packs and ran towards the voice. Now, they were in a wide open space without weapons or protection. It was a ploy by this thing to corner them and strip their defense. "Shit" he mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Troi whispered.

"Everyone back to camp!" Sam barked as he took off towards the campsite.


	10. Wendigo

_**Wendigo**_

The campsite was bare, the packs were gone and there wasn't a single thing left. Sam was right and now Troian knew why Sam acted as he did. "Dammit" Troi screamed as she kicked the dirt in front of her. Her outrage shocked everyone, but especially Dean. In her whole lifetime Troi has never let her anger come out like that, not even on the night Sam abandoned her to go to Stanford.

"Our packs" Haley gasped.

"So much for my GPS and satellite phone."

"Oh, stop your whining, Roy" Troi snapped at the guide. "It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help."

"You mean someone; some nut job out there just stole all out gear?"

"Yes, Roy."

Sam looked over at his twin then over at Dean. By the look on Dean's face, he was just as surprised to suddenly see Troian so angry and crabby. "Hey, uh, Dean, Troi. I need to speak with you, in private." The Winchesters walked a little ways from the group and gathered in a circle. "Good, let me see Dad's journal" he asked as he stuck his hand out towards Dean. Dean nodded and fetched the leather book from the inside pocket of his jacket.

Sam flipped through the worn pages filled with scribbles and odd drawings. He finally found the page he was looking for about one third of the way through- it was written with a black fountain pen and hand an odd drawing of some skinny looking man in the bottom left hand corner. "Alright, check this out" Sam finally said as he turned the book towards his siblings.

Troi took the book from Sam and angled it so Dean can also read it. Her eyes first went to the drawing, but scanned up to the title. "Oh, come on" she laughed. "Wendigos are in Minnesota Woods, or-or Northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west."

"Think about it, Troi. The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."

"Great," Dean piped up "then this is useless." He pulled out the pistol from the small of his back and gestured its uselessness for Sam and Troi to see.

"Dude, we gotta get these people to safety" Sam said as he put a hand on Dean's arm. He walked on ahead of Dean and Troian back towards the group and began some speech about leaving. It wasn't taken well, but Troi and Dean weren't listening.

Instead Dean stood staring at his sister while she stood there with her arms folded, glaring back at him. "Ya know, you two are weirding me out more than your usual twin-telepathy does. I'm supposed to be the rude careless one. You two both took over that. You two both took over that and now I gotta play you guys! What if I don't want to be the responsible, level-headed one, huh?"

Troi couldn't help but laugh at the outburst Dean had, but she had no come back. Instead she walked towards Sam and the argument that just broke out between him and Roy.

"You protect me?" Roy shouted in Sam's face. "I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight!"

"Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here."

"You know you're crazy, right?" Roy laughed.

"Yeah? You ever hunt a wen-"

"Whoa, Sammy!" Troi interrupted "Chill out!" She rushed in between the two men. She had her back towards Sam out of instinct, but kept glancing over her shoulder. Honestly, she trusted Sam the most, but she suddenly felt guilty for doing so.

"Stop it! Just stop" Haley yelled. "Everybody just stop. Look, Tommy might still be alive and I'm not leaving here without him."

"Look, it's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves" Troi said with her back to Sam, still.

"How?" Haley questioned.

* * *

As it got dark, everyone teamed together and built a fire. Troian, Sam, and Dean all got started with making sure3 the area around the camp was protected from the wendigo.

"One more time, that's-?"

"Anasazi symbols. It's for protection, the wendigo can't cross over them" Troi told Haley again as she sat down next to her on a rock. Roy announced his distrust by laughing at the idea of Anasazi symbols and wendigos. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy" Troi spat across the fire.

Next to Troian, Sam and Dean sat down on the dirt. Sam leaned back against Troi's legs while Dean leaned back on the rock she was perched on. "You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" Dean asked under his breath.

"Dean-" Sam warned.

"No," Dean interrupted "you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"

Haley took that as a cue to leave the family and let them sort out their business, so instead she went to check on Ben.

Troi knew Dean had a point, but she was acting similar to Sam, so she stayed quiet and instead let the boys figure things out.

"Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?"

"Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek."

"Then let's get these people back to town and hit the road. Go find Dad, I mean why are we still even here?"

"This is why" Dean explained as he went to crouch in front of Sam, so by default also in front of Troian. He pulled out John's journal and looked right into Sam's eyes. "This book. This is Dad's most valuable possession- everything he knows about everything evil is in here. Troi's will never be this good. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business. And you're also bugging Troi here up too. You know she mimics your mood swings better than her own."

Troi smirked at Dean as she ran a hand through Sam's hair as he thought. His hair would have been identical to her own if hers hadn't lightened in the sunlight. "That makes no sense. Why doesn't he tell us what he wants, tell us where he is? Sam spat.

"I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it."

"Dean…no. I gotta find Dad! I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about."

"Okay, alright, Sam. We'll find them, I promise. Listen to me, you've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. Its gonna kill you, you've gotta have patience, dude" Troi butted in.

Sam glanced up at his sister while she continued to run a hand through his hair. That simple action always calmed Sam down, often enough to make him tired. He quickly looked down to think. "How do you do it? How does Dad do it?"

Troian looked over at Haley and Ben then back at Dean. "Well for one, them" Troi pointed out. "I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable for me at least."

"I'll tell you what else helps" Dean added. "Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can."

Both Sam and Troian grinned down at their older brother. The look was the same and it warmed Dean's heart to see his two baby siblings happy and normal again. Whenever they were together everything was balanced in Dean's world. Dean couldn't help but grin back at them with how much they reminded him of the good times.

No sooner than did the smile spread across Dean's face then did everyone hear screaming again. "Help me! Please" a male voice screamed.

Troi, Dean, and Roy all stood and pointed their guns toward the pleas while Sam made sure Haley and Ben stayed put. "Help!" the voice called out again.

"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put" Troi ordered as she looked over to Haley and Ben first then to Roy.

"Inside the magic circle?"

"Yes, Roy" Troi and Dean both growled at the same time.

"Help! Help me!" The male voice screamed again. It was hard to follow her own instructions when the voice sounded so pained, but there was no doubt left in Troian's mind it was a trap.

A growling and a rustling sent the three gun wielders turning in a full 180. It was now coming from the other direction, further from Haley and Ben.

"Well, that's no grizzly" Roy corrected with a shaky voice.

"It's okay, you'll be alright" Haley whispered in an attempt to calm Ben and herself.

The rustling began to come closer, slow at first then faster and faster until a blur passed her. She had never been very jumpy around a gun, but this time she let out a squeal and turned with her finger on the rigger towards who created the noise. Her eyes met Roy's and quickly dropped the line she had on him by lowering her weapon. "Fuck, Roy! Don't shoot a rifle over someone's head!" she spat in his face.

"I hit it" he shrugged before running after his kill.

"Roy, no!" Dean shouted as he went after the hunter.

Troian turned slowly and scanned the ring for her twin. She knew Sam didn't run off since she could still feel his presence, but she needed some reassuring from the large giant who was mostly likely terrified and outraged right now.

When Troian's eyes finally fell on Sam, she saw just how afraid he was. He was completely pale and frozen in place, yet he was shaking ever so slightly. "Sammy?" she whispered as she walked slowly towards him.

Sam blinked a couple times before nodding for her to come closer. "Troi, you okay?" he mumbled into her forehead.

"Yeah," she sniffled "can I shoot him?"

"After I kill him."

Haley had picked up a burning stick as a weapon while Sam fussed over if Troian was really fine. Once he was done, he bent down to Troi's eye- level and took the gun from her hold. "Stay here with them. Yell if you need me" Sam ordered before following the path Dean and Roy took.

Troian walked to stand next to Haley, who was now standing in front of Ben. Haley gave Trio a quick smile before turning back to the sounds of Dean, Sam, and Roy's voice. "He sure is protective of you" Haley said as she scanned the trees for any movement.

"Yeah, those two are most- the most important thing to me. Sam was protected by Dean from the second mom and Dad brought us home. But Sam focused on always keeping me safe from the moment he could."

I get that- Tommy and Ben are my responsibility."

"And Sam and Dean are mine" Troi agreed as she stepped up in front of Haley. "Listen to me, we will get Tommy back and get you three home safe. Just trust us."

* * *

Sam and Dean both came back, but Roy was nowhere to be seen. The mood became more clear when the Winchester boys came back alone and also showed everyone how serious this wendigo was.

Sam and Troian were sitting on a stump close to the fire while Dean went to explain everything to Haley and Ben. "I don't…I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real."

"I wish I could tell you different" Dean sighed as he looked up into Haley's blue eyes. They were sad and worried, and unfortunately there was nothing Dean could do to ease that.

"How do we know it's not out there watching us?" she sniffled.

"We don't. But we're safe for now."

"How do you guys know about this stuff?"

Dean took a minute to consider Haley's question. The night Mary died was over twenty years ago- how could a boy so young remember that night so vividly? He was thrust into this lifestyle the moment he carried Sam out of that burning house. "Runs in the family, kind of" Dean smirked as he stood up to walk back towards his brother and sister.

"Hey" Sam whispered when Dean walked over to him. Troian had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Sam always felt bad when he disturbed his sister from her rest, so he always worked around her when she slept.

"So we have half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch" Dean sighed as he sat down on Troian's other side.

"Well hell, you know I'm in."

"You do know wendigo means evil that devours" Troi yawned. She kept her eyes closed and head still relaxed on her older brother's shoulder. "It's a Cree Indian word."

"'Course you know that" Dean chuckled.

"They're hundreds of years old, each was once a man" she continued as she opened her eyes. They fell on the fire dancing just a few feet from where she was sitting. Troi was always weary of fire since it killed her mother, but it was still so mesmerizing. The way the flames danced in front of her eyes, the different hues of orange and blue gave them life and personality.

"Right, sometimes they were an Indian or other times a frontiersman, miner, or hunter" Sam smiled down at Troi.

"How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley interrupted once her curiosity won over.

"Hmm, it's always the same" Troi mumbled. She was starting to feel tired again but she was determined to finish. "During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to live, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

"Like the Donner Party?" Ben asked, earning a small nod from Troi.

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality" Sam continued. "If you eat enough of it over the years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry."

"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley dared to ask.

"You're not gonna life it" Troi warned as she closed her eyes once again to the heat warming her face.

"Tell me!"

Dean took the responsibility of always delivering the bad news. This time was no different. "More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when its awake it keeps its victims alive. It uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother is alive, its keeping somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."

"A-and then how do we stop it?"

"Guns are useless, so we gotta torch the sucker!"

* * *

Troian woke up next to Sam on the hard dirt floor. Dean was already up and preparing as many Molotov cocktails as they could handle. "Morning" he grumbled as he put the last cloth in the dark beer bottle.

"Sleep any?" she asked, sitting up.

"A bit. Time to head out though; let's get this son of a bitch!"

**AN: I am soooooo sorry it took me so long, I had a lot happen since the last chapter. I had to take care of family, my grandma died, I went through a horrid breakup, junior year finals, internship wrap up, moved back home, and am struggling in another relationship! I hope I can post more, but now I have work. So please bear with me! :D Thanks a ton!**


	11. Wendigo Pt II

_**Wendigo Pt. II**_

Sam led the way deeper into the woods when everyone woke up and was ready to go. He tried to slow down his pace since everyone following him was shorter, but it was too difficult to focus on as he passed bloody trees and angry claw marks.

Behind him, Troian was trying to track the wendigo's movements based on claw marks and Roy's blood. She was the best tracker of the three, but was often kept from being in the lead by Sam in an attempt to keep her safe in an unknown situation.

Haley and Ben were following close behind Troi while Dean brought up the rear to make sure nothing was following them or planning another attack from the back. Everyone had two Molotov cocktails and a lighter just in case the wendigo got through.

"Hey Dean" Troi called. "Sam, wait a sec."

"Yeah?" Dean panted as he caught up to the pace Sam set.

"You know, I was thinking. Those claw marks are so clear and distinct, they were almost too easy to follow."

As soon as the words escaped her mouth, Troian, Sam, and Dean heard a rustling of leaves in front of them, and a low growl. Dean whipped around to check on Haley and Ben, who were standing under a tree. A few drops of blood landed on her shirt while she was watching Dean and Sam- at first she didn't notice, but as soon as the red liquid soaked into the fabric, she glanced up to find its origin. Haley didn't have to search long, instantly Roy's body came tumbling down from the branches directly above her.

"Shit" Haley gasped as she jumped out of the way.

Dean and Troi both ran towards her to make sure she was alright. Haley grabbed onto Troi as soon as she was within arm's reach and began to let tears flow freely while Dean checked over Roy.

"You okay? Got it?" Sam asked his brother while he looked at the body.

"Yeah, neck's broke" Dean nodded.

There was suddenly another, louder growl coming now from behind Troian and Haley. Horror quickly spread across everyone's face and instilled the flight response in the Winchesters. "Okay, run, run! Go, go!" Dean urged the girls as Sam began to scope out the path ahead of them.

Troian pushed Haley in front of her so she could keep tabs on Dean, who was running alongside Ben. In the short second Troi looked back at Dean, he was helping Ben up and Sam took a quick turn neither girl could see and the two boys fell behind. "Crap" Troi snapped. Sam was alone, still running without anyone with him, Ben and Dean were lost somewhere behind her, and she and Haley were sitting in the middle like ducks.

Haley's scream broke Troi's concentration on what to do now. The wendigo suddenly dropped down from a tree, from somewhere behind them- the same time Sam yelled for Troian.

Sam and Dean both made it back to the place the scream came from only to see a dark broken bottle with a strip of cloth amidst the glass. "Dammit, Troi!" Sam screamed.

"Haley?" Ben whimpered once he registered they were gone.

* * *

"If it keeps victims alive, why'd it kill Roy?" Ben asked out loud.

"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it. Pissed it off" Dean answered

Sam was looking all around the dirt looking for a sign of which way the girls went while Dean tried to formulate a plan. He was about to vie up when he saw a blue M&amp;M lying a few yards from the broken bottle. "Hey Dean, you still have the M&amp;Ms?" he asked as he crouched down to pick up the candy.

"Nope, Troi was hungry" he whined "why?"

"It's better than breadcrumbs" Sam smiled as he tossed it at Dean. "Come on."

Sam followed the trail of colored chocolate while Dean kept an eye on their surroundings. Out of the three siblings, Troian was the best tracker. She saw it as a way to possibly save the hurt animals when John taught them how. Dean turned out to be the worst tracker, so he never tried too hard at the skill. The two boys followed Sam to the entrance of an old mine.

There was a sign off to the side of the opening, strictly saying not to go in due to toxic materials. Sam looked to Dean for what to do now- the answer came as a shrug and wave to go on. Sam lead the way once again, but by the light of a small flashlight from his pocket to lead the way. A growl echoed from deep in the mine and made its way to the men. "Hey, shut it off" Dean whispered to Sam, who quickly obliged.

Sam and Dean both motioned for Ben to get against the cool wall before doing so on both sides of him.

The wendigo started to come towards the slowly; his lengthy body was hard to clearly make out in the dark, but its long arms brushed against the wall as it lumbered towards Sam, Ben, and Dean. Without giving it much thought, Sam clamped a hand over Ben's mouth to keep him from doing anything to alert the wendigo to where they were. When there was no sound or sign of intruders, the wendigo ducked down a tunnel and out of sight.

"Alright, let's go" Sam signaled to both Ben and Dean. They started going in deeper to the cave avoiding the same path the wendigo took when all three suddenly crashed through rotten wood. The fall was similar to two stories and dropped everyone flat onto their backs. The floor was covered by a layer of grime on a nice pile of bones. Sam fell a bit further away from Dean and Ben, who was staring down at a pile of skulls. "Hey, hey, whoa! You're okay" Dean reassured Ben as he tried to scramble back away from the empty eye sockets staring at him.

Sam looked up from where he fell and noticed a few large figures hanging by thin silhouettes from the rafters. As his eyes adjusted to the even darker light, Sam was able to make out dark blond hair and a familiar face. "Troian!" Sam shouted as he rushed to his feet and to his sister. Ben slowly made his way to Haley and eased her down with Dean's help.

Sam studied Troi for any injuries before trying to wake her up. "Troian?" Sam whispered as he moved her sagging head upright to open her airways more. With his other hand, Sam tucked her long loose hair behind an ear. "Troi, hey! Come on" Sam urged when he saw her eyelids begin to flutter.

"Heyya, Sammy" she coughed out. "Where are we?"

"Still strapped to the rafters" Sam chuckled as he supported his twin's weight and untied her with his free left hand. "You okay?"

"Peachy" she winced when Sam eased her onto the floor.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, Haley?"

"She's fine. Waking up" Dean answered as he patted Troian on the shoulder.

"Good. Where is he?"

"Wendigo?" Sam clarified.

"Gone for now" Dean answered as Haley shrieked.

"Tommy! Cut him down!" she ordered Dean. "We're gonna get you home" she smiled at Tommy.

Sam went to pick up the discarded supplies in the corner, including Roy's pack. He eased the straps onto Troian's sore back and spotted two flare guns still discarded in the corner. "Check it out" he called out to Dean.

"Flare guns. Those'll work" Dean smiled as he took one from Sam, who was now grinning as well.

* * *

Sam had put his arm around Troian's back and was helping her down the dark corridor while Dean took point with a flare gun. Haley and Ben were both helping Tommy right behind Sam and Troian. Suddenly a loud growl swirled down the tunnel towards them. "Looks like someone's home for supper" Dean announced.

"We'll never out run it" Haley cursed.

Dean stopped and turned to look back at Sam with a quick wink to Troian. "Oh no" she sighed.

"Is he thinking what I think he is?" Sam asked his sister, who was now limping towards their older brother.

"Yeah, think so" she answered as if she was miles away. "Alright," Troi barked as she snapped back to the present "listen to me. Stay with Sam and I. We're gonna get you out of here."

"What are you gonna do?" Haley asked Dean.

Instead of answering, Dean gave Haley a wink and Sam a quick smile. Dean turned his gaze to his little sister and leaned down to give her a tight hug. "Get them home safe, Killer" Dean whispered.

"Yes, sir" Troi nodded before ushering Haley, Ben, and Tommy to keep going forward.

"Chow time you freaky bastard!" Dean screamed as he walked towards the growls. "Yeah, that's right! Bring it on, baby! I taste good."

Once Dean's voice became indistinct, Sam took the lead in getting everyone out while Troian covered their backs.

* * *

"Hey, you want some white meat, bitch? I'm right here" Dean shouted again when he heard another growl. It wasn't close to where he was; the growl almost sounded like it was heading towards the group.

* * *

Troian head the growl and knew it was coming right for them, "Shit" she said under her breath. _There has to be a way to corner the wendigo, but I promised Dean I would get the Collins's out. _"Sam" she called.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going after Dean. Get them out!"

"What? Troian, no!"

"You using my full name isn't gonna stop me" she chuckled as she shrugged the pack off. "Go!"

"Come on, Sam" Haley urged.

Troi shot a thankful smile over at Haley before running towards the sound of Dean's voice. Her injured leg protested with every step she took, but she was accustomed to pushing through pain and injury. "Come on!" she screamed into the darkness. Troi was hoping the brain left in the wendigo would acknowledge that as an attempt to get the prisoners out.

She was right- as Troi rounded a corner she found herself face to face with him. The wendigo was tall and as thin as she could imagine. Even in the dark atmosphere, Troian could see his skin was tinted green, except around his eye and mouth, which were red. His mouth appeared to be stained by blood from his victims while his eyes appeared red almost on purpose. "Oh hell" Troi squeaked as she began to run through her options. Thankfully, she was saved by a loud crack and bright light engulfing the wendigo.

"Troi? You were supposed to get them out!" Dean scolded.

"Sammy" she sighed. "Thanks for that by the way."

"Just go!"

Troi took off in the direction Sam took with the Collins's with Dean right behind her. "That really was kina cool" she commented.

"Right?" Dean chuckled.

* * *

Red and blue lights bounced of every reflective surface and cast shadows on every face around them. Sam watched Tom as he got loaded into the back of an ambulance from his seat on the hood of the Impala. Next to the ambulance, Ben and Haley were watching the paramedics check their brother over. Sam was officially worried that he had yet to see Troian and Dean walk out of the mine. What if he was forced into a life with no family? What if John was all Sam had left of his family?

Sam couldn't help it any longer, he was going to go back in and find the only two people left in this world that held true meaning to him! As soon as Sam jumped off the hood of the car, two more figures stumbled out of the mine. They were instantly wormed by paramedics and cops the moment they emerged.

"Troi? Dean?" Sam shouted as he took off towards them.

"Sammy" Troi smiled as she jumped at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah" he nodded.

Haley quickly came running towards the siblings and threw herself at Troian. "So I don't know how to thank you guys" she sniffled.

"Oh no, you're fine. I'm just glad your brother is home."

"I hope you find your dad" she winked before going back to the ambulance.

"Man I hate camping" Dean grumbled "and you know we'll find Dad."

"I know" Sam answered. "And in the meantime, I am driving!"

**AN: Sorry again for the delay, I am trying to post quicker but things are holding me back...Thank you sticking with this story! More to come soon (I hope)! Reviews are always welcome- tell me what you think! Keep in mind there are some things I can't change...like Troian's name...so constructive criticism is preferred! Not my fault you aren't a fan of the name, sorry. But I am :)**


	12. Water on the Lake

_**Water on the Lake**_

Sam, Dean, and Troian parked the Impala in front of the motel they were staying at in town they were in now. Troian was sitting in front of an empty plate with a town newspaper laid down in front of her. "I found something" she cleared her throat as the waitress came back over.

The waitress was tall, blond, and busty-which instantly caught her brother's attention. Dean was almost drooling at the sight of Wendy leaning down towards him and Sam was staring longingly at her. "So, can I get you anything else?" Wendy, the waitress asked.

"No" Troi snapped, earning glares from both her brothers. "Just the check, please" she fixed.

The waitress nodded down sadly at Troian before sauntering off to the kitchen. Both Sam and Dean watched her perfectly round butt swish expertly to the kitchen. "Dude, why?" Dean slapped Troian's arm.

"She was nice" Sam whined.

"We have a possible case" she barked. "Now, you two going to listen or oogle?"

"You know Troi, we are allowed to have fun once in a while" Dean peeked over his shoulder. Wendy was leaning over the bar, butt sticking out and a clear shot down her shirt. "That's fun."

"Here, take a look at this" Troi interrupted as she handed the newspaper across the table to her brothers. "Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, last week Sophie Carlton age 18 walks into the lake and doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water, nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago."

"A funeral?" Dean asked once the summary was done.

"Yeah, they buried an empty coffin for closure or whatever" Troi nodded as she snuck a bite of Sam's food off his plate.

"Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Troi. Other people just stop looking for them" Sam objected.

"Something else you wanna say to me?" Dean asked pointedly. Troi's ear also perked up and leaned forward in her seat with elbows leaning on the table.

Sam was noticeable less agitated then he was a week ago in Blackwater Ridge, but he still wasn't his normal self. He was short, grumpy, and barely sleeping. Sam often snapped at Troian- and that was completely out of the ordinary. "The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day!"

"Exactly, so what are we supposed to do?" Dean replied.

"I don't know. Something. Anything."

"You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do? Hell, I came to get you that night!"

"Yeah, I know you do, it's just-"

"We're the ones that've been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college goin' to pep rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there, okay?"

It was clear Sam finally hit a nerve in Dean. Everything he just said was true to some extent, but now he was fully invested. Sam knew John was the only ticket to finding the thing that ruined his life twice now.

"Alright, hey! Lake Manitoc?" Troi interjected, trying to get Dean's attention back on this subject and to keep Sam from staring a fight.

"Huh?" Dean asked.

"How far?"

* * *

Troian happily relaxed into the front passenger seat while Sam reclined in the back seat. The drive was long, but it was beautiful and almost over. Dean was pulling up the dirt driveway to the Carlton house. Dean quickly jumped out once the car was parked- Sam and Troi were slower to get out, but let their older brother take point this time. Dean knocked on the wood screen door as Troian and Sam made their way up to the door.

"Will Carlton?" Dean asked when a younger man answered the knock.

"Yeah, that's right" he muttered.

"I'm Agent Ford; this is Agent Hamill and Fisher. We're with the US Wildlife Service."

Will, Sophie's brother, allowed them in and led them into the sitting room. No one sat, instead Troian's eyes fell on another man sitting out on the dock by himself, staring at the still water. "May we?" she asked sweetly, gesturing towards the dock.

"She was about a hundred yards out" Will said ignoring Troi's request.

"And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean continued on.

"Yeah, she was a varsity swimmer. Sophie practically grew up in the Lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub."

"So, no splashing? No signs of distress?" Sam asked next.

"No, that's what I'm telling you."

"Did you see any shadow in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?"

"No again, she was really far out there."

"You see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked.

"No, never why? Why, what do you think's out there?"

"We'll let you know" Dean smiled before turning to look out at the man on the dock.

"What about your father? Can we talk to him?" Troi tried again.

Will turned to look at his father, still sitting on the same bench, starting out to the floating platform Sophie often swam out to. The day she drowned, Sophie was poking fun at him and promising their father she'd come back. That morning was so normal, that's what hurt them the most. "Look uh, if you don't mind, I mean… he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot."

That didn't sit right with Troian, but she couldn't push any further. As it was, she had been refused twice- the third time would not be the charm. "We understand" she smiled flakily.

"Time to go to the station" Dean sighed as they left the house.

* * *

The siblings quickly made their way to the station, but Troian was focused on something else. The pit in her stomach grew; there was something wrong with how she was unable to talk with Bill, Sophie's father.

A Dean pulled into the small, crowded police station's parking lot. They all stood up from the closed quarters and walked into the station. Sheriff Jake Devins listened to Dean and Sam's questions while Troian walked around the station still thinking. Sheriff Devins's voice of disbelief and doubt finally broke through her mental rants. "Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?"

"You sure it's accidental? Will Carlton saw something grab his sister" Troi spat at the Sheriff, interrupting Sam from asking a similar question.

"Like what?" he chuckled, disbelievingly. "There are no carnivores in that lake! There's nothing big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster."

Both Sam and Dean slowly turned to look at their little sister as if she had sprouted a second head. Sam found himself studying his twin closely while Dean tried to them out of the mess Troian threw them into.

"Yeah, right" he laughed at Sheriff Devins.

"Will Carlton was traumatized and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still, we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."

"That's weird though" Troi spoke up, despite the glare Sam was giving her. "I mean that's your third missing body in that lake this year."

"I know" he snapped. "These are people from my town. These are people I care about!"

"I- we know" Dean smiled as he went to stand in front of Troian.

Anyways…all this- it won't be a problem much longer" Sheriff Devins sighed.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Well, the dam, of course."

"Of course, the dam, it's uh, i-it's sprung a leak" Sam guessed.

"It's falling apart, and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town either."

"But as Federal Wildlife, we already knew that" Troi snapped again.

"Alright, Agent Fisher" Sam warned his sister right as another woman walked in.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" she asked shyly once she saw the three agents. "I can come back later."

"Gentlemen, ma'am. This is my daughter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Dean" he smiled with a hand extended.

"Andrea Barr, hi" she smiled back.

"They're from the Wildlife Service. About the lake" Sheriff Devins informed his daughter as a young boy with shaggy hair ran around his mother.

"Oh hey there. What's your name?" Dean asked the boy. Instead of an answer, the boy quickly made his way into the office belonging to the sheriff behind them.

"That's Lucas" Sheriff Devins answered for his grandson.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked Andrea.

"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have. So if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know" the sheriff answered before his daughter could.

"Thanks. You know, now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?" Dean asked smoothly.

"Lakefront Motel" Andrea nodded. "Go around the corner. It's about two blocks south."

"Two- would you mind showing us?"

Andrea laughed at the bluntness in Dean's request, and was saved from answering when Troian spoke up. "It's okay, well find it."

"It's no trouble, I'm going that way. I'll be back to pick Lucas up at three" she called over her shoulder to her father as she lead the three Winchesters out of the station.

* * *

Dean walked down the street side by side with Andrea, talking about kids while Sam stuck next to his boiling sister. To Sam, these blocks felt miles long and Troian still refused to look at anything but her feet. The silence was killing him, so he stopped walking and signaled for Troi to do the same. "Okay, I'm beyond curious, what's gotten in to you? You're worse than Dan and me together" Sam lectured.

"Nothing. Why are you suddenly so concerned with my attitude?"

"Because you have one! And it's clearly not nothing, so dammit, spill it Troian!"

Sam was mad and his shouting had even reached Andrea and Dean's ears. Troian took one look at Sam and slapped him right across the face. "You are my problem! Ever since Jess died you've been on a damn kamikaze mission. Gotta find Dad…gotta catch the killer…screw doing our jobs like we are supposed to! Bet you didn't even notice what was off in the Carlton house!"

Dean excused himself from Andrea and rushed back to his younger siblings.

"Oh yeah? Then what was so off?" Sam spat back.

"That Will kept ignoring the request, the way Bill kept staring out at the lake! He had to have seen something or he wouldn't have felt bad."

Troian took another step towards Sam with her hand clenched this time. Dean quickly came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pinning down her arms. "Alright, calm down" Dean whispered. "Just not in public okay? You two can finish once we get to the motel. Sammy, get going!"

Sam followed Dean's orders and began the rest of the walk to the motel.

**AN: Here is another chapter, first part of episode 3: _Dead in the Water_! Enjoy and tell me what you think!**


	13. Array of Feelings

_**Array of Feelings**_

Sam slammed the door to the motel room open and tossed a bag on one open bed while Dean and Troian came in slower. Troi put her bag down on the floor in front of the unclaimed bed and turned to face Dean. The look on her face made Dean grin- he knew that look as the one that meant she was gunning for a fight. "Hah, alright, but first I'm giving input" Dean said as he locked the door and put his back to it. "Sam, get your head out of the clouds. You should focus on the case at hand. And you-" Dean said looking, at Troi "you know better! Its bad enough Andrea asked if you two were twins. Now you're acting like it. 'Never in public', remember the rule now?"

"Yes sir, sorry sir" Troian muttered. She was embarrassed with having to be lectured as if she was 10 again.

"Yeah, sorry man" Sam nodded as he hung his head in shame.

"Good! Now back to work" Dean barked as he put his bag down on the open bed.

* * *

Troian tried to settle down, per Dean's orders while Sam did some research on his laptop. The run she just got back from only helped diffuse her rage, it did nothing for the tense muscles she still had. "I'm going to shower, kay?" she asked rhetorically to the two boys not paying any attention to her.

"Huh, sure" Dean nodded as he continued to go through his clothes.

The door to the bathroom closed and seconds later Troian flipped on the water. Instantly steam began to fill the small room and fog over the windows. Troian preferred it this way; she hated seeing the amount of scars and puckers that littered her body. This wasn't how she imagined her body would look when she was hitting puberty, but it was the territory that came with the life.

Outside Sam finally found what he was looking for. "There were other drownings before this year" he cleared his throat to get Dean's attention.

"How many?" Dean acknowledged.

"Uh, six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there it's picking up its pace."

"So what, we got a lake monster on a binge?"

"I don't know, this whole lake monster theory, it-it just bugs me."

"Good, at least you're admitting it unlike your better half," Dean joked as he came to look over Sam's shoulder "why?"

"Loch Ness, Lake Champlin, there are literally hundreds of eye witness accounts, but here, almost nothing…as Troi might have picked up" Sam said a little louder for his sister's benefit.

"Yeah, and whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it" Troi shouted from the bathroom still.

"Wait, wait" Dean said as he pointed at the screen. "Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?"

"Andrea and Lucas Barr" Troi said from the bathroom. The water had been shut off, so she didn't have to yell quit as much.

"Yeah, Christopher was her husband and his father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned- two hours before the kid got rescued."

"Maybe we have another eyewitness after all" Dean replied as he scratched his head in confusion.

"No wonder that kid was so freaked out, like Bill. Watching one of your parents die and remembering isn't something you just get over" Troi sighed when she finally came out of the steamy bathroom. Sam knew what she was referring to, but only nodded at the statement, unsure of how steady his voice would prove to be.

* * *

Dean, Sam, and Troian all took a quick walk around the town, searching for the park Andrea mentioned she would take Lucas to later. There were a couple kids on the swings and some laughing on the play structure, but Lucas was sitting on his own with toy soldiers and coloring.

"Hey, can we join you?" Troi smiled down at Andrea.

"I'm here with my son" she answered back. Troian found herself taken aback by the response.

"Oh, mind if I say hi?" Dean asked in an attempt to break the awkwardness that had quickly sprouted between the two women. Once receiving the nod of approval, Dean took off towards the boy.

"So, you two really twins?" Andrea asked Sam.

"Hah, uh yeah we are" Sam nodded as he took a seat next to Andrea.

* * *

"How's it going?" Dean asked Lucas as he knelt down beside the boy. Lucas made no attempt at acknowledging Dean's presence, so he changed tract. "Oh, I used to love these things" Dean smiled as he picked up one of the green toy soldier figurines. He imitated the soldier shooting amidst explosions, but when Lucas still didn't look up Dean pretended to have the soldier die by gunshot. "So, crayons are more your thing? That's cool, chicks dig artists." Dean peeked over at the drawings. The first one was of a simple black swirl that filled up the entire page, the next underneath it was of a red bicycle. "Hey, these are pretty good. You mind if I sit down and draw with you for a while?"

Lucas still didn't give any sign of acknowledgement, but Dean picked up a crayon and pad of paper ad began to draw on the bench Lucas was drawing on. "I'm not so bad myself" Dean smirked, but still no answer. So Dean moved on. "You know, I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age I saw something." Dean paused for a moment to think about what color he needed next for his drawings. "Anyway, well maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or uh…or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture bout what you saw that day, with your dad on the lake. This is for you" Dean continued to ramble. "That's my dad, mom, geeky brother, and kind sister. They are twins, and that's me."

Dean put the drawing down on top of the spiral drawing Lucas did. He then stood up and slowly turned to walk back to Troian, Sam, and Andrea.

"Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident" Andrea said quietly.

"Yeah we heard. Sorry" Dean cleared his throat.

"What are the doctors saying?" Sam asked.

"That it's kind of post-traumatic stress" she shrugged.

"That can't be easy, for either of you."

"We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just…when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw."

"Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with" Troi smiled next to Andrea. Her smile grew even larger when she saw Lucas coming towards them.

"You know, he used to have such a life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, with those army men. I just wish- oh, hey sweetie" Andrea switched when her son came close enough to be in hearing range.

Lucas ignored his mother's greeting and walked straight up to Dean. Everyone watched as he handed the tall man a picture. "Thanks. Thanks, Lucas" Dean smiled, even when Lucas just turned to walk back to the bench with his crayons. And army men.

* * *

Dean relaxed on the motel room bed he had claimed just looking at the picture. Troian had scrounged up two pillows, one from each bed, and a blanket and was now curled up in a small ball at the foot of Dean's bed. Sam opened the front door to see his sister asleep on the floor. He eased himself down on his bed and motioned for Dean's attention. "So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie" Sam whispered.

"What do you mean?"

Sam switched over to Dean's bed to sit next to him and speak quieter. "I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead."

"He drowned?"

"Yep, in the sink" Sam smirked.

"Wait, did I hear you right?" Troi yawned from the floor.

"Yeah, that was no dream" Dean chuckled. "So, what? Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? I mean something that controls water…water that comes from the same source."

"The lake" Troi mumbled into the pillows. She didn't want to wake up, but she also wanted to contribute.

"Yeah" Dean agreed.

"Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time."

Troian managed to stand up from where she was sleeping and sat down on the edge of Dean's bed.

"And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere" Dean rationalized.

"This is gonna happen again soon. No more showers for me."

"And we do know one thing for sure" Sam added. Both Troian and Dean looked over at him to continue. "We know this _has_ got something to do with Bill Carlton."

"Told you" Troi growled at her brother.

"Yeah, it took both kids" Dean agreed.

"And I've been asking around. Lucas's dad, Chris- Bill Carlton's godson" Sam added.

"Then let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit" Troi suggested as she stood up from the bed and slipped back into her jeans and boots.

* * *

When the Winchesters found their way to the back of the house they found Bill sitting on the same bench looking out at the water. "Mr. Carlton?" Troi called out. Bill looked up and over his shoulder at the three young people coming down towards him. "We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind" she called out again.

"We're from the Department-" Dean started to explain but was quickly interrupted.

I don't care who you're with. I've answered enough questions today" Bill barked.

Dean quickly backed off, but Troian continued forward and Sam was right behind her. Dean brought up the rear, but stopped short of the bench.

"Your son said he saw something in that lake" Troi said as she crouched down in front of Bill. "What about you? You ever see anything out there? Mr. Carlton, Sophie's drowning and Will's death- we think there might be a connection to you or your family."

Bill looked into Troi's green eyes and scowled. "My children are gone. It's…its worse than dying. So go away, please!"

Troi nodded and stood up in front of Bill and motioned for Sam to go ahead of her. After Sam and Troian walked past Dean, he too turned his back to follow his family. All Dean could think about was how Troian was right. Bill Carlton was hiding something, something big and now his children were dead while his only godson also drowned.

Troian popped herself up on the trunk of the Impala and Sam leaned against the car next to his sister while they waited for Dean to catch up. "What do you think?" Sam asked as Dean approached the car.

"I think the poor guy's been through hell. I also think he's not telling us something" Dean voiced while he looked and nodded at Troian.

"So what now?"

Dean looked back at the house and felt himself stiffen with surprise.

"What?" Troi asked concerned as she jumped off the trunk. "What is it?"

Dean pulled out the folded drawing from Lucas and passed it on to Troian. "Huh" he finally spoke, still looking at the house. "Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something."

"Lucas" Troi sighed before handing Sam the picture and getting into the car.

* * *

Troian agreed to stay out of this interview since Andrea seemed to dislike her and let her brothers ask the questions. Both her older brothers stepped into the house first and she followed, closing the door behind her. "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea" she heard Andrea answer.

"I just need to talk to him" Dean pleaded carefully when Troian joined them in the living room. "Just for a few minutes."

"He won't say anything. What good's it gonna do?"

"Andrea," Sam butted in "we think more people might get hurt. We think something's happening out there."

"My husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all" Andrea petitioned.

"If that's what you really believe, then we'll go. But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here, please let me talk to your son" Dean pleaded.

Finally, upon receiving approval, Dean went down the hall to Lucas's room. The boy was lying on the floor coloring once again with his army men standing around the paper ad crayons. It was almost as if the army men were guarding the paper from outside influences, or refusing to let anything off the paper. Dean crouched down next to Lucas while Sam, Andrea, and Troian all stood in his bedroom doorway. "Hey, Lucas" Dean greeted the boy. "You remember me?"

Lucas had drawn two more pictures of red bikes, but once again didn't bother to acknowledge Dean's arrival.

"You know, uh" Dean interrupted "I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is I need your help again." Lucas continued to draw, this time focusing on a person in a large body of water. Dean pushed back every sign of frustration and pulled out the original picture Lucas drew for him. Dean u unfolded it and placed it in front of Lucas. "How did you know something bad was gonna happen? Maybe you could nod yes or no or me?" Lucas did nothing but keep coloring. Internally, Dean sighed before he tried again.

"You're scared, it's okay. I understand, see when I was your age. I saw something real bad happen to my mom and I was scared, too. But see, my mom- I knew she wanted me to be brave. I think about my mom that day, every day. And I do my best to be brave, and maybe your dad wants you to be brave too."

Andrea only stood in the doorway covering her mouth in shock; she was unable to think, unable to move as she watched Dean interact with her son.

Troian knew how Dean felt about that night and how it affected him, but to hear her brother say it out loud to a young boy touched her directly and dragged tears out of her eyes. Suddenly, Lucas sat up and dug out a picture from the pile directly in front of Dean. It's a medium sized white church next to a white house with a boy in a blue baseball cap, pushing the familiar red bike along a wooden fence.

"Thanks, Lucas" Dean smiled as he squeezed the boy's shoulder affectionately before standing to exit the room.


	14. That Sinking Feeling

_**That Sinking Feeling**_

"You know, Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his Dad died" deans aid as he and his siblings walked around the town. They were looking for the building that matched the drawing Lucas did for Dean.

"There are cases" Troi shrugged. "Going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies."

"Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow?" Dean pondered.

"I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please" Sam pleaded.

Everyone was stumped on the case since leaving Andrea's. Dean secretly hoped for a picture of what was responsible for the drownings, but instead he got a church and happy house scene. They were now walking round looking for a solution in the form of a child's drawing. "The only problem is there are about a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone" Dean complained.

"See this church?" Sam chuckled. "I bet there are less than a thousand of those around here."

"Oh, College Boy thinks he is so smart" Troi howled as she went to run away from Sam. His long legs always made the attempt futile, but it was always fun.

"Alright you two" Dean chuckled, your 22, remember?"

"Right, totally forgot" Troi laughed back at her older brother.

"You know, um… what you said about Mom" Sam started once Dean had caught back up to them. "You never told me that before."

"It's no big deal" Dean shrugged. "Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?"

Troian couldn't help but laugh at the look that suddenly appeared on Sam's face. Dean smiled at the reaction of the twins and continued down the sidewalk to find the house and church. But when Troian looked up, she saw almost the exact same scene as the drawing Lucas did. "Hey, uh, that look familiar by chance?" Troi shouted ahead to her brothers.

She approached the front door to the church while Sam and Dean crossed the street to the yellow house, also matching the picture. The church smelt like wood and incense which stung Troian's nose as soon as the doors closed. It was dark and stifling, but she could still make out that there was no chance of danger. "Why do I get the boring jobs?" Troi complained as she pocketed her gun back into her waistband of her jeans.

Sam and Dena walked up the short walkway to the front door. The screen door was open while the large wood door stay cracked. "We're sorry to bother you, ma'am- but does a little boy live here by chance?" Dean asked when a little older woman came up to the door.

"He might wear a blue ball cap, has a red bicycle" Sam added in when the woman's stone face just stared back at them.

"No sir. Not for a very long time. Peter's been gone for 35 years now" the older woman sighed. "The police never- I never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared."

Sam's eyes scanned the room full of pictures and little memories of her son everywhere. The picture sitting on the side table next to the green army men specifically caught Sam's attention- Peter looked like a splitting image of Lucas from today. Sam nudged Dean to look at the little side table while Mrs. Sweeny continued to talk some. "But losing him- you know, it's worse than dying." Mrs. Sweeny sniffled.

Dean glanced quickly at Sam with confusion written over his face. "Did he disappear from here? I mean, from this house?" he stuttered.

"He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, and he never showed up!"

Dean nodded and wandered over to an old fashioned mirror with a two fading pictures tucked into the sides of the wood trim around the yellowing glass. There was one that caught Dean's attention though; it bore the grainy image of two young boys wearing a Boy Scout uniform next to a bike. Dean flipped the picture over and read the faded scribbles on the back. "Peter Sweeny and Bill Carlton, 1970."

* * *

Troian leaned against a light post across the street from the Sweeny house, waiting for her two brothers to come out of the two story yellow house. After about five minutes of waiting, Sam came out of the house with Dean following close behind. "So, find any skeletons in the tub?" Troi asked as she pushed herself off the post.

"Nope, coincidences" Sam answered. "How about the church, anything?"

"No water-logged bodies" she said, turning to walk back down the street.

"Okay, this little boy Peter Sweeny vanishes, and this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow."

"Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something, huh?" Troi directed towards Dean.

"And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished" Sam interrupted the squabble getting ready to erupt.

"So what if Bill did something to Peter?" Troi said back to Sam.

"What if Bill killed them?" Dean spoke up.

"Peter's spirit would be furious. It'd want revenge, it's possible" Sam shrugged. "Let's go check on Mr. Carlton again."

Troian was first to reach the black car, but happily opted to sit in the back so Sam could have the front passenger seat for his long legs. Dean sank down behind the thin steering wheel. He eased the car away from the curb and down the street once Sam closed his car door. The trip was short since the town was small and everyone was silent, even when the road became uneven. Dean turned the Impala into an open space and threw the car in park alongside the Carlton house. Sam and Troian both got out of the car even before the engine was cut and began to head towards the front door. "Mr. Carlton?" Sam called out.

An engine's roar, not the Impala's, caught the Winchesters' attention. "Hey, check it out" Dean called up to his younger siblings. A small boat pulled away from the dock carrying Bill out towards the center of the lake.

"Dammit" Troi mumbled as she took off running towards the docks. She heard her brothers running behind her. "Mr. Carlton! You need to come back!" Troi shouted over the boat's engine.

Bill didn't even stop, he didn't even turn around. He continued out into the open glassy lake. The boat suddenly shot up into the air on spouting geyser. Old wood flew off from the force and Bill found himself plastered back against a bench. The boat flew back towards the dock and landed upside down in splinters on the water in front of the three hunters- but there was no Bill.

* * *

Sam, Dean, and Troian came in the police station with the sheriff behind them to find Andrea and Lucas waiting there. Lucas was rocking back and forth in the chair he was perched on. He was on the verge of crying until he saw Dean.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Andrea pleaded. Her eyes followed Lucas's own and saw the three tall people coming in. "Sam, Dean, Troian" she sighed, relieved. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"So now you're on first name basis. What are you doing here?" Sheriff Devins asked his daughter.

"I brought you dinner" she said, off put by her father's demanding tone.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I don't have time" he said softer due to his daughter's reaction.

"I heard about Bill. Is it true? Is something going on with the lake?"

"Right now we don't know what the truth is. But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went home" Dean suggested.

Lucas looked up once again at his new friend when he heard the sound of his rough voice mention home. The boy clearly became upset again and lunged for the tall man. His jump earned him a grip on Dean's waist and two strong arms around him to make sure he didn't slip down. Lucas continued to whimper with his face in Dean.

"Lucas, hey what is it?" Dean consoled as he attempted to peel the little arms off his waist, but the attempt was futile. Andrea even came to help, but Dean waved her off. "It's okay, its fine." Instead of trying again, Dean instead sat down in the chair Lucas was in before.

Sheriff Devins threw his jacket down and stormed into his office. Sam and Troian both looked over at each other before following him into his office. "Okay, just so I'm clear, you see... something attacked bill's boat, sending Bill- who is a very good swimmer by the way- into the lake and you never see him again?"

Troian glanced over at Sam the back at the sheriff. "Yeah, that about sums it up" she chuckled.

"And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service?" Sam looked up at the sheriff and was suddenly caught by surprise. "That's right, I checked. Department has never heard of you three. Nor would they out twins together! Even I know that!"

"See, now we can explain that" Troi smiled, turning on her charm Sam hated so much.

"Enough, please. The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did. So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses. Or we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again."

"Door number two sounds good" Sam interrupted his sister from saying anything else.

"That's the one I'd pick" Sheriff Devins smirked as he ushered the twins out of his office. Troian walked out first with Sam close behind and saw Dean waiting for them. Andrea must have been able to pull Lucas off since Dean was relaxing on the couch now.

"We're going, get up" Troi barked as she rushed past him.

"Going? Where?" Dean persisted.

"Out of town, now! Come on."

* * *

Troian put her feet up on the dashboard while Dean drove them out of Lake Manitoc. He pulled up to an intersection and sat at a red light. No one else could be seen for miles and yet they still sat there staring at the sign pointing towards the interstate. He continued to sit behind the wheel, completely oblivious to the newly changed traffic light.

"Green" Sam announced from the backseat.

"Huh?" Dean mumbled from the front seat.

"The light's green" Sam repeated.

Instead of following the sign towards Milwaukee I-43 North, Dean turned right and back into Lake Manitoc.

"Uh, the interstate's the other way" Sam pointed out.

"Maybe I should drive?" Troi squeaked when she slid out of her seat.

"I know, and no" Dean answered distantly.

"So where are we going?"

Dean didn't answer, instead he broke every traffic law as he raced back into town. He was determined to get somewhere but refused to say anything.

"This seems like the way to Andrea's" Sam pondered while he looked out the window.

"Could be, or is it to Bill Carlton's?" Troi asked. The twins continued to bounce speculations off one another for the few minutes it took Dean to park the Impala and rush up the few steps to the porch.

"I don't want to just leave this town until I know the kid's okay" Dean finally answered once the twins caught up to him.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam smirked.

"Shut up" Dean barked as he rang the doorbell

"Are you sure about this? It's pretty late, man."

Almost within seconds of the doorbell ringing the front door flew open. Lucas was standing there painting and sweating profusely. "Lucas?" Dean gasped as he ran after the boy down the hall, up the stairs, and to a closed door leaking scummy water.

Lucas began banging the door while the three Winchesters rushed to catch up to him. Troian was first up the stairs despite being the last to get started. She quickly peeled the frantic boy away from the door almost as Dean kicked the door down. Lucas struggled to get away from Troian, but she held him close and refused to let him see what was happening in the bathroom.

Sam and Dean both ran into the bathroom to see what the problem was and were floored by the scene. Andrea was struggling under the brown soapy water that had filled her tub. Sam quickly rolled up his sleeves and plunged his arms into the warm water. He searched for a sign of Andrea's body for a few seconds until his hands brushed against skin. "I got her" Sam grunted as he began to pull. There was something holding her down though, and Sam was struggling. Dean came over next to his brother and also began to pull. With their combined strength, both men succeeded in freeing Andrea, who fell on top of Sam in a wet panting pile of tangled limbs.

Troian breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Andrea come out of the water coughing. Lucas also seemed to relax when he saw Dean walk back out of the bathroom after saving his mom. "You should stay with her. I'll take Lucas" Dean panted to Troian.

"Yeah, sure" she answered. Once Lucas was free from her arm and securely attached on Dean's, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Andrea before helping her up. "Here you go" Troi smiled once Andrea stopped coughing.

"Lucas?" she croaked out of her very sore throat.

"Fine, he's with Dean now."

"Thank you for not listening to my Dad. I-if you guys didn't come back Lucas would have been an orphan."

"It's out pleasure, really. It was mostly Dean though. He just turned the car around before Sam and I even knew what he was doing."

"Well, I'm glad he did. I'm uh, going to get dressed now. It's bad enough your brother and Dean already saw me naked."

"Hah, actually Dean's our older brother" Troi laughed.

"Perfect, even better" Andrea laughed back.

* * *

The sun had begun to rise by the time Troian and Andrea had come back downstairs. Sam had completely dried and Andrea was wearing sweats with a loose Led Zeppelin t-shirt. She sat down opposite Sam at the coffee table with Troi seated on the armrest of the chair she had just settled into. "Can you tell me?" Sam begged.

"It doesn't make sense" Andrea cried into her hands. "I'm going crazy."

Troi looked over her shoulder at Dean. He was engrossed in the notebooks that littered the shelves, but even at the mention of crazy he glanced up with a smirk on his face. "You'd be surprised at the buckets of really crazy shit we get to deal with" he assured the woman.

"Tell me what happened. Everything" Sam urged from the edge of his seat.

"I heard... I thought I heard… there was this voice" Andrea stammered.

"What did it say?" Troi pleaded from the armrest.

"It said…it said 'come play with me'."

The three Winchesters all took in a breath and looked around at each other. Troi stood up from next to Andrea and found herself walking over to the window that over looked the lake. _What the hell is happening? _Troi thought to herself as she absently admired the scenery. _To think that a place this peaceful is killing people right and left._ Dean had gone about flipping through one notebook about Sheriff Devins when he was about Lucas's age. He stopped at a picture similar to the one at Mrs. Sweeney's house. "Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" he asked as he put the book down in front of Andrea.

"What? Um, no. I mean, except that's my Dad right there. He must have been about 12 in these pictures."

Troi spun around when she heard that. "Chris Barr's drowning. The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff."

"Bill _and_ the sheriff- they were both involved with Peter" Sam corrected.

"What about Chris? My Dad- what are you talking about?" Andrea demanded.

Dean glanced sideways toward Troi when his eyes caught sight of a figure in the doorway. "Lucas?" he called. "Lucas, what is it?"

The boy was staring out the window on the door Of course instead of answering Lucas instead opened the door and let himself out to the back. Everyone followed the boy as he wove through the tree line along the path to the lake. "Lucas, honey?" Andrea called out, concerned, but then her boy just stopped and peered up at Dean.

"You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?" Dean ordered before taking off himself to grab two shovels from the trunk.

"The hell is happening?" Troi sighed to herself as she began to clear away rocks and sticks from the area.

"God knows, but hopefully this is the end. That boy has already gone through enough" Sam answered. "What do you think is here?"

"Based on everything going on here… anything! But what would I like to see under this dirt? Sadly, a damn body!"

Dean came back wielding two military surplus collapsible shovels and tossed on over to Sam. Troian happily took a step back and let the boys dig up the mysterious treasure. As much as she hated to be sidelined on a case, she was happy when it came during manual labor. Troian was never treated differently from her brothers- in fact she probably had more always thrown at her by John but she didn't mind. Now that they were all grown and taking on their own cases, if possible Sam and Dean would spare her from digging and heavy lifting.

After about an hour of digging, Sam's shovel finally hit something and produced a metallic clang. Troian was snapped out of her daydream and went over to help Sam pull out whatever his shovel hit. "Peter's bike" Sam huffed. It had clearly been covered for a long time ad despite the caked mud, it was clear it used to be red.

"Who are you three?" a shaky voice said from the tree line.

The three siblings all turned towards the voice and found themselves staring down the barrel of the gun held by Sheriff Devins. Sam quickly positioned himself in front of Troi, while Dean inched towards Sam. "Put down the gun, Sheriff" Sam warned when he saw Dean move out of the corner of his eye.

"How'd you know that was there?"

"What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and the buried the bike? You can't burry the truth, Sheriff. Nothing stay buried" Dean warned as he positioned himself directly in front of Sam.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about" Sheriff Devins shouted as his daughter came up behind Troian.

"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney 35 years ago. That's what the hell I'm talking about!"

"Dad!" Andrea called out ahead of her once she understood what was happening in front of her.

"And now you got one seriously pissed off spirit" Dean continued, despite Andrea's arrival.

"It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love" Troi spoke up as she stepped out from around Sam. "It's gonna drown them. And its gonna drag their bodies God know where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, its gonna take you!"

"Troi-" Sam warned when he saw the Sheriff's gun hand clenched.

"No, Sam. He needs to know. He needs to know it's not going to stop until it does!"

"Yeah? And how do you know that, little girl?" the sheriff taunted.

"Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton" Sam butted in.

"Listen to yourselves, all three of you. You're insane!"

"I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us, but if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them."

"Now, please tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake!" Dean pleaded.

"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea gulped.

"No, don't listen to them. They're liars and dangerous!"

"Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake" Andrea sniffled. Despite her pleas, her father refused to look at her; that is when it finally dawned on her that Peter's death was on his hands. "Oh God."

"Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time it got rough. We were holding his head under the water, we didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank" Sheriff Devins admitted to his daughter.

"Well fuck" Troi exhaled as she turned her back to the Sheriff.

"Andrea, we were kids!" he continued to explain to his daughter, who now looked as if she was about to be sick.

"We were kids, we were so scared. It was a mistake. But Andrea, to say that I or a ghost had anything to do with these drownings? That's not rational."

Andrea refused to look her father in the eye since she now knew he killed Peter, but she also couldn't discredit what he was saying. Ghosts weren't real, but it wasn't possible to be held down under the surface of her bathwater.

Dean could sense the uncertainty handing above their heads and couldn't let it settle or he'd lose Andrea's lifesaving support and trust. "Alright, listen to me. We need to get you away from this lake, right now!"

"Lucas!" Troi gasped at the end of Dean's passive order. Almost in an act of defiance, she watched the boy walk out of the house and towards the dock. There was no clean shortcut through the trees, so Troian found herself sprinting up the seemingly miles long path to stop Lucas. She continued to call his name, but of course there was no acknowledgement.

By the time Troian and the other four adults reached the dock, Lucas was on his stomach reaching over the water for the toy solider he dropped. Troian and Dean both continued towards the oy while Sam stayed with the hysterically pleading mother.

No sooner than Troi reached him was Lucas being pulled into the lake by a water-logged arm. "Shit" she cursed before executing a clean Olympic standard dive into the murky water. Dean was soon to follow, but he was no comparison to his fish-like sister. Troian was once a competitive swimmer- it was impossible to keep up with her. For every breath Troi took, Dean was forced to take two sloppy ones.

Even with the skill currently in the water, it wasn't until Sheriff Devins sacrificed himself to Peter that Troi was able to get hold of and rescue Lucas.

* * *

Troian sat in the backseat of the Impala as Dean drove away from the sendoff Lucas and Andrea gave the Winchesters. Lucas had finally broken his vow of silence, first with Dean, but also to personally thank her. It was the best save she had done, yet she was still upset with her inability to save Sheriff Jake Devins.

"Look, we're not going to save everybody" Sam lectured his twin.

"I know, doesn't mean I can't feel bad."

"Just don't sulk for too long. You being upset screws with me- I need you feeling like normal you to work best."

"I know, I'm sorry" she emphasized as she snuggled down with one of her twin's jackets to sleep, surrounded by his comforting scent and energy.

**AN: And that marks the end of that episode! Stick around for more! Please leave reviews and comments, I am always happy to hear suggestions and critiques on things I can change! **


	15. Pierce the Veil

_**Pierce the Veil**_

After their case in Wisconsin, the Winchesters were called to Pennsylvania by someone Troi, Dean, and John helped once upon a time. The case turned out to be a demon possessing passengers on a plane in order to crash it. Dean was terrified of flying, but as soon as the exorcism was done and the plane landed in Pennsylvania again Troian found herself comforting Dean. "We are never flying again" he barked as he paced back and forth in front of the airport.

"But this was your first time" Troi chuckled as she tried to reassure her oldest brother. "You can't base your future on one experience."

"Watch me" he huffed as Sam came out of baggage claim. He had decided to check the bag they brought on since they were done with the case and the demon was exorcised.

"Watch you do what?" Sam asked as he came into the conversation.

"Nothing Sammy, you ready?" Troi turned towards Sam.

"Oh, huh, okay" he shrugged a little disheartedly.

"What, no I'm not ready! I can't sit, I can't breathe!" Dean interrupted.

"Wait, are you serious?" Troi squeaked. "You're serious, whoa, Dean! Stop pacing."

"Can I? A-are you sure?"

"Yeah, Dean. Stop. See, solid ground, deep breaths or I'll start singing."

"Uh, what would you be singing?" Sam asked his younger twin.

"Hey, Jude, of course" Troi scoffed. "You doin' better, Dean?"

With a nod, Troian shot a big smile over to Dean. "Good" she sighed before wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled away once she felt a pat on the back and led the way towards the car.

"So, may I ask where we are going next?" Sam asked as he took up the rear of the procession.

"Toledo, Ohio" Troi and Dean answered together.

"You can sleep on the way up, Troi and I'll switch off."

"Yippee."

* * *

"Sam! Wake up" Troi shouted from the driver's seat. As her hand came down onto his chest, she could feel the change from nightmare to reality. His chest unclenched and his breaths became more even as his eyes slowly opened at his twin's request.

Sam woke feeling as if his head was surrounded by smoke; all that he could remember was two words echoing off every other memory in his conscious mind. "Take if I was having a nightmare" he struggled to get out of his sore, dry throat.

"Yeah, another one" Troi verified as she looked up at a large building in front of her. Dean needed to use the restroom and she pulled over at the first rest stop- this one took the cake for being the strangest.

"Hey, at least I slept" Sam kidded once he too sized up the strange rest stop.

"You know, sooner or later we're gonna have to talk about this. I gotta know what's going on with my bigger, more well-rounded half."

"Are we here?" Sam deflected as quickly as possible.

"Yeah" Troi sighed. "Welcome to Toledo, Ohio. Home of the unimaginatively named Toledo Rockets and the late Mr. Steven Shoemaker- husband and father."

"So, what do you really think happened to this guy?"

"That's what we're going to find out" Troi answered as dean collapsed back into the backseat.

"Let's go" he directed as he slammed the door closed.

* * *

Troian walked past the sterile white walls of the hospital and through the clearly marked doors informing its visitors they were entering the morgue. Out of the three of them, she was the most accepting of death, but was the most squeamish. She took charge with Sam right behind her and walked right up to the front desk.

"Hey" the guy behind the desk greeted the three Winchesters.

"Hey" Troi purred back as she put her elbows on the desk.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, we're the med students."

"Sorry?"

"Oh, Dr. F didn't tell you?" Troi asked, pretending to be surprised. "I talked to him over the phone. We're from University of Toledo. He's supposed to show us the Shoemaker corpse, for our paper."

"Well, I'm sorry. He's out to lunch."

Troi could tell right there that she still failed to catch his attention, so she dialed up the heat despite Sam's wishes. "Oh, shucks, I wanted to see the good doctor and thank him personally, but no matter" she fussed as she took down her long dark blond hair. It came down in a wave from the high bun and cascaded over her shoulder, creating a thin veil in front of her chest. "You don't mind just showing us the body, do you?"

"Uh, sorry. I cant."

"Look, Tootsie, this paper's half our grade, please help me out" she asked again as she pushed her well-developed breasts forward, forcing them to push at the veil, slightly.

"Follow me" he answered once the blood came out of his head and back up to his brain.

"Awesome" she smiled as she turned back to her brothers.

"_Tootsie?_" Dean asked as he followed the technician.

"The hell did those come from?" Sam asked, annoyed by what Troian had done.

"Sam, we hit puberty at the same time. Get used to it."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it" Sam grumbled as he followed Dean. "Now the newspaper said his daughter found him. She said his eyes were bleeding?" Sam asked the tech.

"More than that, practically liquefied" he corrected as he pulled the sheet back.

Troi instantly felt her stomach flip and knees lock once she saw the victim's face. "Any sign of a struggle?" she asked as flatly as possible so as not to give away her current state. "Perhaps somebody did it to him?"

"Nope, besides the daughter he was alone."

"What's the official cause of death?" Dean finally asked the tech. It was almost as if he was able to tell Troian was about to puke as well.

"Ah, doc's not sure. He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurysm? Something up there burst!"

"Intense cerebral bleeding- could that cause something like this?"

"Capillaries can burst. See a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims" the tech explained.

"Yeah, but exploding eyeballs?"

"This is a first for me, dude, but hey, I'm not the doctor."

"Hey," Troi winked at the technician "think we could, uh, take a look at that police report? You know, for uh…our paper?" she seduced.

He was still thinking it over when Troian leaned forward and pulled down her signature V-neck a little lower, exposing more cleavage then the usual amount that caught attention.

As soon as the tell-all sign registered on the technician's face Sam let out another annoyed sigh and held out his hand for the report. "Let's go, Troian" he ordered once the file was in his hand.

"Whoa, are you two brother sister?" The tech asked as Sam pushed Troian in front of him.

"We all are" Troi smiled.

"But those two are twins" Dean finished as he followed Sam out.

* * *

Once they were all out of the hospital and settled back into the Impala, Sam pulled out the report and began to glance over it. "Please tell me I wasn't oogled over for nothing" Troi wined from the backseat.

"Eh, you did go a big overboard this time" Dean chuckled. "_Tootsie?_"

"Shut up, asshat" Troi said as she slapped at the back of Dean's head.

"Hey! You two stop!" Sam lectured, shooting a stern glare at his siblings. "Might not be one of ours anyways. Might just be some freak medical thing."

"How many times in Dad's long and varied career has it actually been a freak medical thing and not some sign of an awful supernatural death?" Dean countered.

"Almost never" Sam acknowledged.

"Exactly."

"Alright, so let's go talk to the daughter" Troi suggested in attempt to stop the size up going on between her brothers.

* * *

Trio stood in front of her two brothers on the porch looking in on the funeral party. "I feel like we are underdressed" Dean remarked as he scanned the crowd. All the men were dressed in perfectly fitting black suits outfitted with red, dark blue, or gray ties.

"Told you we should have gotten some nicer clothes" Troi jabbed as she ran her hands over her worn jeans. "Daughter's name was Lily, right?"

"And Donna" Sam nodded.

"Perfect" she sighed as she led the way over to the four girls sitting together.

"You must be Donna" Dean said as he made eye contact with the oldest girl.

"Yeah" she replied hesitantly.

"Hey, my name's Troian. This is Dean and Sam" Troi took over.

"We worked with your Dad. We- uh, we're really sorry" Sam spoke up.

"Thank you" Donna nodded. You did?"

"Yeah."

"This whole thing, I mean a stroke" Dean huffed.

"I don't think she wants to talk about this right now" Donna's friend snapped.

"Charlie, I'm okay. It's okay" Donna responded.

"Were there any symptoms? Dizziness? Migraines?" Dean pushed on.

"No" Donna answered quietly.

Troi found her eyes wandering down the line of girls and fell on the younger girl sitting on the end. Her face almost seemed to contort into a Salvador Dali painting upon the mention of a stroke. She turned away from the rest of the girls for a few seconds before whipping back around. "That's because it wasn't a stroke."

"Lily, don't say that" Donna snapped down at her little sister.

"What do you mean, honey?" Troi asked as she crouched down in front of the young girl's eye level.

"I-I'm sorry" Donna stuttered. "She's just upset."

"No, it happened cuz of me!"

"Sweetie, it didn't" Donna tried to comfort her younger sister.

Troian could tell in Donna's eyes, it was only an attempt to pacify the guilt Lily was expressing, but it was now Troian's main prerogative to find the source of her contriteness. "Lily, why would you think that?"

"Right before he died, I said it."

"You said what?" she goaded.

"Bloody Mary, three times in the bathroom mirror" Lily whined before casting her eyes down to her folded hands. "She took his eyes, that's what she does."

"That's not why Dad died! This isn't your fault" Donna argued.

"I think your sister's right, Lily" Sam said.

"There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary- your Dad didn't say it. Did he?"

"No, I don't think so" she sniffled as she looked up at Sam. He too had crouched down to her eyelevel and next to Troian. "A-are you two related?"

"Yeah, he's my twin brother. I'm the youngest too" Troi smiled as she stood up. "Excuse us."

Troi, Sam, and Dean began to weave through the crowd and the house slowly. They were looking for any indication that something supernatural was going on or occurred. Troi broke off from the boys once they got to the stairs. She went towards the kitchen while they went up to the death sight.

Sam pushed a closed bathroom door open and peaked around the area. If it wasn't for the small patch of missed blood behind the door, Sam wouldn't have seen this as such a marred room. He took a deep, shaky breath before he glanced into the mirror above the sink and was relieved to see only his reflection and Dean's. "The Bloody Mary legend…Dad ever find any evidence that it was a real thing?"

"Not that I know of," Dean answered "but you'd have to ask Troi."

"I mean, everywhere else all over the country kids will play Bloody Mary, and as far as we know nobody dies from it."

"Yeah, well maybe everywhere else it's just a story. But here it's actually happening" Dean pondered. "The place where it all began?"

"Yeah, but we should bounce all this off of Troian."

"But according to the legend, the person who says its gets it."

"But this time Shoemaker gets it instead."

"Right."

"Never heard anything like that, maybe Troi has. Still the guy died right in front of the mirror, and the daughter's right- the way the legend goes she scratches your eyes out."

"It's worth checking into, but why the sudden focus on Troi?" Sam asked as he turned to leave the bathroom.

"She's just got some notes on things since we went solo. What's the big issue for, dude?"

"You two just seem awful chum, that's all" Sam shrugged.

The issue was only growing for Dean when Sam flicked the bathroom light off. Sam was never the jealous type, but it seemed like he had perfected the art once he was once again riding shotgun in Baby. Anything that had to do with Troi and someone other than him would send Sam into a tailspin all of his own.

Right as Dean was about to open his mouth to the behavior, a pair of footsteps were heard coming down the hall. The breath Dean sucked in was met with a confused gasp from Donna's friend Charlie. "What are you doing up here?" she stuttered when she came eye to eye.

"Uh, we were looking for a bathroom" Dean answered promptly.

"Who are you?" Charlie asked again after a short pause.


	16. Guilt and Bad Fortune

_**Guilt and bad Fortune**_

Troian had gotten comfortable on the table next to Sam's computer while Dean found himself flipping through old newspapers. They were on the hunt for anything close to a Mary dying in font of or due to a reflective surface. No matter how much they broadened the search, the results still come back useless. Sam and Dean were both losing steam and Troian was picking at her dead ends like she had been for the past hour.

After 50 more newspapers and twenty more internet searches, Troi finally had enough. "Alright guys, we've been here for three hours, time to home for the night." Despite not having a conventional home, it was understood that home meant the cleanest cheap motel they could get a room at.

"Yeah, okay. Sounds good" Sam nodded along with Dean's appreciative sigh.

The motel was a block away from the motel, so they hadn't bothered driving. The cool Ohio night air slapped the fatigue out of the Winchesters' over worked brains. The air sent a shiver down Troian's spine that both brothers noticed but Dean quickly acted on. "You two get the beds this time" he ordered as he dropped his beloved leather jacket over her thinner flannel. "Sammy's by the door."

"Yes, sir" Troi mumbled as she walked closer to Dean's warm side, leaving Sam a few feet away.

"You sure your old bones can take the cold, hard floor?" Sam scoffed at Dean.

"Dude, I'm only 26! I'm not a grandpa yet."

"You don't know that for sure" he said, opening the motel room door.

"Some one's grumpy" Troi whispered once Sam was out of earshot in the bathroom. "Don't look, I'm changing" she called out as an alert to the two men in the room.

* * *

When the sun came up the next morning, Troi felt the constant warmth on her side suddenly cool and her mattress dip from added weight. She had been trained by Dean once Sam left to be aware of these changes even in her deepest sleep in case she was ever separated from him.

Sam wasn't aware of the extra training, so when he was strangled by two bare legs and had a knife pressed against his throat, Sam was a tad confused and suddenly very scared. "Troian, what the fuck?!" Sam yelled once the initial shock wore off. "I was just gonna ask if you wanted to go for a run with me."

The puppy eyes Sam now wore was enough ammunition against her frustration and shot it down to gut wrenching guilt. "I'm sorry, Sammy. I-I thought…I don't know what I thought actually."

"Where in the hell did you learn that?" Sam asked now in a whisper so as not to disturb the still unconscious Dean.

"Dean- the person who just slept through your scream. He thought 'just in case' on everything once it was the two of us" she explained. "Come on, a run sounds good now."

Early morning runs were an activity despised by dean, but loved by the twins. It seemed to be a ritual that opened and strengthened the portal between their shared souls. Each matched stride forged a more stable, clear connection for both and helped them better understand their other half.

Troian could tell by the long stride Sam started out with that he was safe-guarding something and the speed clued her in to the fact that there was something Sam was going to confront her on- and she was the subject. Troi knew better than to outright ask her twin, so instead she adjusted her own stride to mirror his.

The action of Troian pushing herself past her high limit to mirror his strides told Sam she knew something was brewing in him and was going to make it her business to taste it. Sam slowed his pace down to a walk and was relieved when Troian did the same. "Fine, I'll spill" Sam barked.

"Thank god. I was tired of twisting your arm" Troi gasped sarcastically.

"What, uh, what happened between you two while I was gone?"

"Well, since you were, ya know, _gone_, Dean and I had to learn to live alone together."

"Well you two seemed to work that out well."

"What did you want me to do, Sam? Just wait for you to come back to continue to function? I' not that weak!"

"I shouldn't have left, what was I thinking? It was stupid leaving you alone when I went to Stanford, I-I mean we planned since we could talk that we'd do everything together" Sam rambled. "I mean we were potty trained at the same damn time. But I had to leave, Troi. I couldn't leave though at first, I felt so bad."

"Yeah? Well, I'm feakin' glad you did! As soon as you left I was pissed! But it showed me I had more people than just you in my life. Showed me, Sam Winchester, that I can get along perfectly without you! And _that _is what I am doing!"

Sam was taken aback by Troi's yelling. She was short compared to him, but as soon as her fuse was lit Troian seemed to grow three feet in two seconds.

"Whoa, Troi. I-I'm sorry, I didn't know" Sam muttered.

"Course you didn't! When you left you were gone! And now you've got your head shoved up Jessica's perfectly dead ass!"

"That's not true, Troian and you know it. There have just been things I've been struggling with."

"That's clear as glass, Sam! Now swallow it or spill."

Sam considered Troian proposal- it would make him feel a lot better, but it was his mistake and therefore burden to bear. "I'll take a raincheck on that" he muttered before taking off again.

When Sam and Troian got back to the motel they noticed Dean had left, most likely to get breakfast. Since Troian always got the first shower, Sam collapsed on his bed as Troian rushed to the bathroom for a shower. The mattress gave way under Sam's sore muscles, cradling the back of a sore giant. As the water pipes groaned alive Sam's eyes closed and his hands were folded neatly behind his head.

The hot water slid down Troian's shoulders and long dark blond hair. This was her personal space to think and relax, but this time her head was still whirling on Sam's own. _Was he really feeling guilty about leaving me behind when he went to Stanford? I mean, he could have called or written once or twice since he left. The only way I knew he was even still alive was when we drove past his dorm. _

The water temperature suddenly went cold and she found herself shaking under the stream. Troian quickly shut the water off and wrapped a thin white towel around her body. She grabbed one more for her hair and walked out to the main room. Troian found her brother curled up on his side, sleeping for the first time since Sam left Stanford with her and Dean.

By the time Troian was dressed, Sam bolted awake. He was panting when his eyes landed on a very stunned Troi. "Why'd you let me fall asleep?" Sam chocked out from his tired cords.

"Cause I'm an awesome little sister. So, what did you dream about?" Troi asked as she sat down next to Sam on the bed.

"Lollipops and candy canes."

"Right, how dare I actually expect an answer" Troi chuckled as she stood up from the bed, almost running right into dean as he came in the door. "Oh, hey" she gasped. "Find anything?"

"Aw, is the married couple squabbling again?" Dean chuckled. "Naah, besides a whole new level of frustration? Nope, I've looked at everything! A few local women, a Laura and a Catherine committed suicide in front of a mirror, and a giant mirror fell on a guy named Dave."

"Maybe we just haven't found it yet" Sam added as he fell back on the bed.

"I've also been searching for strange deaths in the area, ya know…eyeball bleeding sort of thing. There's nothing- so whatever's happening here, maybe it just ain't Mary."

A cell phone shrill interrupted Dean's report on his research. Troian reached for the phone on the side table and glanced at the number. "Hello?" she answered. All she did was listen to the other side before looking back up at her hazel eyes and written clearly across her face. "We're going, get up!" she barked as she snatched the car keys out of Dean's hand.

* * *

Troi found herself holding the hand of a sobbing daughter's friend, Charlie, as Sam crouched in front of her and Dean paced behind Charlie. It was clear she was struggling with something before they even walked up to her. "They found her on the bathroom floor. And her- Jill's eyes were gone!"

"I' sorry" Sam acknowledged.

"And she said it. I heard her say it, but it couldn't be because of that. I'm insane, right?"

"No, you're not insane" Dean answered with a simple shrug before going back behind the bench.

"Makes me feel worse" she sighed into her hands about her and Donna's friend's death.

"Look, we think something's happening that we can't explain. But to stop it, we need your help."

"Sure, what?"

"Help us get into Jill's room and don't say it" Troi smiled.

* * *

It turned out, as a result of Sam's ingenuity, which on the back of the mirror Jill said Mary's name into there was a name written in blood on the back. Gary Bryman was an eight year old boy killed in a hit and run with a Toyota Camry- Jill's Camry. That lead to a similar result in the bathroom Mr. Shoemaker died in- Linda Shoemaker.

"The way Mary's choosing her victims seems like a pattern" Troi thought out loud as she stared at John's journal. She had flipped through her own and their father's journal for the fifteenth time.

"I was thinking the same thing" Dean nodded from behind a computer screen. "Both had secrets where people died."

"Right, I mean there's a ton of folklore about mirrors. They reveal all your lies, all your secrets, and they are a true reflection of your soul."

"Which is why its bad luck to break them" Sam piped up, suddenly feeling forgotten behind a computer in front of his siblings.

"So if you've got a secret, I mean a nasty one where someone died, then Mary sees it and punishes you for it" Dean said, ignoring Sam's comment. "No matter who summoned her."

"Take a look at this" Sam cleared his throat. "Her name was Mary Worthington- the mirror she died in front of had 'Tre' written in blood on it. It's now here."

* * *

Charlie turned out to be the next victim after Donna said Bloody Mary into the school's bathroom mirror. After Troi removed every surface in their motel room so Charlie had a fighting chance, she met up with her older brothers outside. "Alright, what's the plan?"

"Well, we should go find the mirror and take care of the spirit. Summon her to her mirror perhaps?" Sam pondered.

"I'll go look for the place where the mirror is" Dean excused herself.

"That could work," Troi nodded "but who's gonna summon her?"

"I will. She'll come after me."

"Dammit, Sam!" That's it! This is about Jessica, isn't it?" Troi barked as she stood up straight in front of Sam's tall figure. "You think that's your dirty little secret and that you killed her somehow? Sam, this has got to stop, bud! I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night- it's just creepy for me to witness and its gonna kill you. Now listen to me- it wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, blame the thing that killed her! Or blame me; I'm the freakin' one that dragged you away in the first place- so slug me!"

"No Troi, I can't blame you" Sam shook his head.

"Well, you shouldn't blame yourself" Troi changed her tone. "There's nothing you could've done."

"I could've warned her."

"About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it, so it won't work with Mary anyways."

"No, you don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything."

"But you always do" Troi whined. "Too bad, I'm not going to let it happen, forget it."

"Troian, that girl in there is going to die unless we do something about it. You have to let me do this!"

Troi may be younger but she knew she had to hold on Sam similar to authority. She often was seen as a mother now that she didn't depend on Dean to keep her alive anymore. Sam knew better than to push Troian, but she seemed even more stern than usual right now- and he still pressed her. _What was he thinking?_

As Dean pulled the car up to where Sam and Troian were standing, she could tell Dean was worried about the same thing. Sam racked with guilt and running low on sleep often lead to poorly thought out choices.

Dean quickly read her face before she opened the door and knew the attempt at talking didn't go well, but he wasn't going to ask. "Alright, found it."

"Did you?" Troi asked innocently.

"Yeah, some old antique shop, you two good?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Sam asked as he settled back into his seat.

* * *

The antique shop was big and every window was bared. Dean parked the black car safely covered by the darkness of a back alley. Troi lead the way up to the front door while dean tried to weasel his way into summoning Mary instead of Sam. "Come on, Sammy, keep watch." Dean pleaded while Troi tried to pick the lock.

"Why's this such a big deal, Dean?" Sam exclaimed. "I'm doing this, you stand guard!"

Once the lock clicked, Sam didn't bother to wait for Troi's announcement before he pushed past her and into the store. "Yeah, no problem, guys" she sighed as she followed her brothers in, unbeknownst to the silent alarm they now triggered.

Sam, Dean, and Troian stood slack jawed at the sight before them. The store was full of mirrors, from floor to ceiling. There were large ones with small frames and large decorative boarders- all similar to the one Bloody Mary was killed in front of.

"Well, shit" the three Winchesters sighed together.

"Okay, Sam go that way" Dean ordered, motioning to the left. "And Troian, the other way. I'll look around here for the mirror."

"Sure."

"Okay." Sam and Troi said over each other before going to their respective corners to search for the mirror with the dark, elaborate border.

Troian and Sam had given up searching their respective sides about twenty long rows in and were now searching close together. Troian finally found the soiled mirror as she rounded a corner to start another row. Context removed, it was a beautiful piece Troi found herself drawn to. Her mind began to race around the thought of hanging the mirror on a burnt red wall in the foyer of her two story home filled with the sounds of family. "Too bad you're covered in blood" she hissed under her breath before Sam caught up with her.

"Hey, good eye, Troian" Sam smiled down at his twin.

"Shit, lights. I'll go check on them" Dean hollered as he jogged back to the front.

"You ready?" Sam sighed as he stepped in front of the reflective glass and adjusted his grip on the crowbar.

"But not happy" Troi sighed as she took her place just out of shot of the mirror and tightened her hold on the flashlight she was holding in addition to the crowbar.

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary" Sam called out.

* * *

With Troian's help, Sam positioned a mirror in front of the now tangible Mary so she could see her own reflection. Mary straightened up at the sight of herself. "You killed them! All those people! You killed them" her reflection shouted. Mary began to choke and melted into a puddle of blood amongst the glass in front of the collapsed twins. At the sight of Mary melting, Troi relaxed and laid flat against the cold concert ground and closed her blood stained eyes with a sigh. "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?" he grunted, sitting up next to his sister.

"That's gotta be what…? 600 years of bad luck?"

With a week chuckle, Sam found his way to his feet before pulling Troian up to him. "You're getting stronger, not bad Troi" Sam said as he released his little sister from his embrace.

"Thanks, Sammy" she smiled. "So, now that you got the bitch, what's the big burden?"

Sam pressed his lips into a fine line as he turned his back on his sister. Sam felt bad for leaving his twin and best friend in the dark, but he couldn't bear to tell Troi before. _What would she think if I told her? But if I don't tell her, no doubt will make things worse- and I just got her back._

Sam took a deep breath and turned back to face his sister. The silence hung on his tongue like the lingering taste of a bitter piece of fruit. "I knew Jess was going to die" he said hurriedly, just trying to wash his mouth of the taste.

"What do you mean? It's impossible to know those things" Troi questioned as she studied the masculine reflection of her image.

"I can't explain, but I knew she'd die like Mom. I didn't do anything to stop it- to keep her alive and safe. Her death, it's my fault and I failed. She's dead cuz I failed."

Troian's heart broke more and more as Sam kept talking. She had no room to say anything around the dryness that decided to make itself at home in her mouth. As a tear crept down from her hazel eye, leaving a pink trail in its wake, Troi found herself wrapping her arms around Sam's neck.

Not another word was said until Dean came in to find his little brother and sister wrapped up in a motionless embrace. "What'd I miss?" he asked with a lopsided grin and arms open wide.

"600 years of bad luck and Mary's own bloody guilt" Troi answered, pulling away from Sam.

"Well, good. Oh and Troian?"

"Yeah?"

"Learn how to disable a damn alarm!" Dean barked as he pointed to go out the back door to the car.

**AN: Well, that wraps up _Bloody Mary. _I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you thought, what you want to see more of, and what you want to see less of. Thanks for reading! **


	17. Holy Relevations

_**Holy Relevations**_

Now that Dean's face was plastered all over every news station in St. Louis, Missouri and bordering states, in was best to get out as soon and fast as possible. With how Dean drove through, Sam was terrified they would get pulled over and recognized so instead he asked Troian to drive to the next case. "This is stupid" Dean grumbled from the front seat. "She is just as bad a driver as I am. Maybe worse."

"I am a wonderful driver" Troi smiled over at her oldest brother. "And smarter than the killer on the 11 o'clock news for not giving away DNA." Troi eased the long black car into the café's parking lot right as the punch to her statement finally collided with Dean's brain. "Oh you little twit-" Dean shouted as he lunged for Troian's arm. Unfortunately for him, Dean missed as she jumped out of the way and into the parking lot just in time.

"Alright, not in public, you two" Sam scolded above the taunts Troi was throwing around the car. It was always better if the Winchesters were able to get in and out of towns unrecognized or without having attention drawn to them. That was always hard enough when Troian and Dean both got into one of their moods…and Sam was always the voice of reason. "I'm going over to the phone. Get me a coffee and don't hit each other." Sam continued to lecture.

"Sure thing, Sammy" Troi laughed towards the taller man behind her.

* * *

"Dude, your, uh, half-caf double vanilla latte is getting' cold over here, Francis" Dean shouted from the table when he saw Sam heading back from the blue payphone.

"Bite me" Sam smiled down to his brother when he got close enough to the table.

"So, anything?" Troi asked around a grin once she swallowed her iced coffee gulp.

"I had 'em check the FBI's Missing Person Data Bank. No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."

"Sam, I'm tellin' ya," Dean shrugged "I don't think Dad wants to be found."

Sam smiled sadly down at the Styrofoam cup in his folded hands. _Of course Dean was right; I just refuse to accept it I guess. This is the reason I got dragged in, I need to find him._

"Check this out," Dean interrupted Sam's thoughts "it's a news item out of Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about a hundred miles from here."

Troian peeked around Dean's shoulder to look at the bright screen of Sam's laptop. "The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road" she read.

"Keep reading" Dean prompted as he turned the screen towards her.

"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eye witness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible."

"Could be something interesting" Dean announced.

"Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man" Sam re-encountered.

"But what if it is?"

"Dad would check it out" Troi added, knowing as usual what her bigger half's focus really was now.

Sam nodded as dean gathered the laptop and newspaper he laid out in front of him and went for the driver's side of the Impala. "But I'm driving this time" Dean acknowledged.

"Fine, just don't get pulled over while you're wearing your face, okay?" Troi smiled as she too stood up from the table.

* * *

Dean drove to the fraternity house the victim belonged to. As he put the car in park, the eyes of every frat boy around fell on the loud car. Troi instantly felt uneasy and nervous about the attention. Sam also noticed the attention, but his mind went to a different place than Troi's.

"Uh, Dean?" Troi whispered as if the boys outside could hear everything going on inside the metal enclosure.

"Yeah?"

"What uh, what are we going to do about the fact I'm, ya know, female?"

"Good question" Sam piped up.

"Just follow my lead, kids" Dean smirked as he opened the squeaky door.

"One more time though, why are we here?" Sam asked before Dean got out.

"Victim lived here."

Dean stood up from his seat while the twins scampered out as well. The three Winchesters made their way up the slanted driveway to the large two story house busting with college boys and annoying rap music. In the drive way, the three guys staring at the Winchesters when they pulled up followed them with their eyes. Troi couldn't help herself and caught herself looking back. They were all standing around an old silver car with its hood open. As Troi passed by them, their mouths all fell open. "Nice wheels" she smirked.

"Were your fraternity brothers, from Ohio" Dean smiled as he stepped up next to his sister. "We're new in town, transfers. Looking for a place to stay."

The googling boys around the car were pushed into sudden confusion; it took all of Troian's strength not to laugh at the look on their faces as they sized her up again and then looked at Sam. "Whoa, uh but she's a chick" the guy I the red track jacket said. "And that dude looks just like her-"

"Yeah, good observation, buddy" Sam chuckled.

"Uh, that way" another boy pointed, referring to Dean's statement.

"Thanks" the three Winchesters answered as they continued towards the house.

The house rank of stale beer and chips, but it was still relatively clean. The large wood stair cases shocked Troian and went against every image she had of what the inside of a frat house would look like. There were no puke stains on the throw rugs, no unexplained spots on the upholstery, no huge holes in the drywall. As she climbed higher into the house however, she became less surprised.

The second floor was all bedrooms, each with three names on the closed door. There was one door open, and it only had one name on it. Dean changed course towards that door and was met by a boy in yellow shorts holding a can of paint and a paintbrush in front of a mirror. "Who are you?" the boy asked when he noticed he had an audience.

"We are your new roommates" Dean smiled as he walked into the small room.

The boy held out the can and brush dripping purple paint to Dean. "Do me a favor? Get my back?" he asked. "Big game today!"

"He's the artist" Dean said, pointing to Sam. "The things he can do with a brush."

Sam visibly sighed as he took the can and brush and began to fill in the gap on his back. Troi couldn't help but chuckle as she sat down on the other open chair to watch the show.

"So, Murph," Dean started, using the name on the door "is it true?"

"What?" he asked over his shoulder while Sam continued to paint.

"We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week."

"Yeah" Murph answered sadly.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"They are saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy."

"Rich- was he with somebody?"

"Not just somebody" Murph said a little more animated now. "Lori Sorenson."

"Who's Lori Sorenson?" Troi asked. "Oh Sam, you missed a spot."

Sam quickly threw a dirty glare back at his sister as Dean formed a huge grin on his already joyful face.

"Lori's a freshman" Murph began, totally oblivious to the exchange between the siblings. "She's a local, super-hot. And get this- she's a reverend's daughter."

"You wouldn't happen to know what church, would ya?" Dean dug.

* * *

Troian pushed as hard as she could to get Sam and Dean to dress semi-presentable, but of course all that got her was being 10 minutes late and Dean in a clean shirt under the brown leather jacket that had now grown attached to his skin.

When Sam opened the door, she could hear the reverend's sermon was in full bloom. "Dammit, Dean" she scolded.

"Well, you had the problem" he defended as he let Troi in before him.

"Our hearts go out to the family of the young man who perished" the reverend said. Sam quietly made way to an open back pew with Troian close on his heels as the sermon continued. "And now, as time heals all our wounds, we should reflect on what this tragedy means."

Almost as if it was a cue, Dean let the door slam shut behind him. "Oh no, you did not just do that" Troi whisper shouted to him when the whole congregation turned to look at them.

"Sorry" Dean muttered, before turning his attention back to the reverend.

"The loss of a young person is particular tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings. So please, let us pray. For peace, guidance, and for the power to protect our children." After a moment of heads bowed in silence, Reverend Sorensen closes the service and dismisses the congregation.

Troi found Lori off to the side talking with someone who looked about the same age, but she was cut off by Rev. Sorensen himself. Sam saw the snag and steered Dean towards Lori, catching her right as the other girl left. "Are you, Lori?" he asked causally.

"Yeah."

"My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean."

"Hi" Dean smiled.

"We just transferred here to the university with our sister, Troian."

"I saw you inside" Lori nodded.

"We don't want to bother you. We just heard about what happened and…"

"…we wanted to say how sorry we were" Dean finished for his brother.

"I kind of know what you're going through. I-I saw someone…get hurt once" Sam piped up.

"It's something you don't forget."

Lori nodded and found herself making eye contact with Troian as she walked over with her father the Reverend. "Dad," she stuttered "um, this is Sam and Dean. They are new students."

"And this is their sister, Troian."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir" Dean smiled, sticking out his hand. "I must say, that was inspiring sermon."

"Thank you. It's so nice to meet three young adults who are open to the Lord's message."

"Yeah, uh actually since we're new in town-" Dean said, leading the Reverend away from Troi, Sam, and Lori.

"Tell me Lori," Troi started "what are the police saying?"

"Well they don't have a lot to go on. I think they blame me for that."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"My story. I was so scared; I guess I was 'seeing things'."

"That doesn't mean it wasn't real" Troi smiled sweetly.

**AN: Here starts _Hook Man! _Tell me what you think or what you want more of! Enjoy!**


	18. I pledge

_**I pledge...**_

As the crowd disappeared after talking with the preacher, Sam, Dean, and Troian all pilled into the Impala to figure out what their next move was going to be. "I'm still thinking house party is our best option" Dean grumbled when he was overruled by the twins and their idea to hit the books.

"Yeah, but not the brightest, nor the smartest move" Sam chuckled. "What we need is either a library or the town hall records."

"I vote library, I don't think we can play cops and students at the same time without losing respect of one group" Troi agreed.

Dean shot Troi a glare through the rearview mirror as he started the car up. "Thought you'd be on my side."

"Sorry Dean, twins beat bonding" she smirked, earning a chuckle from Sam.

* * *

"So, you believe her?" Dean asked surprised once they were walking into the library, referring to Lori.

"I do" Sam nodded.

"Yeah, I think she's hot too."

"Dude!" Troi snapped, disgusted.

"No man," Sam shook his head "there's something in her eyes. And listen to this: she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car."

"Wait, the body suspended?" Dean asked, earning a nod from Sam in response.

"That sounds like the Hook Man legend" Troi finished the thought.

"That's one of the most famous urban legends ever! You don't think that we're dealing with the Hook Man?" Dean asked both his siblings.

"Every urban legend has a source, a place where it all began" Troi shrugged. "But what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?"

"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn't a man at all. What if its some kind of spirit?" Sam rebutted.

"I'll go talk to the librarian."

* * *

No sooner than Troian came back from the coffee cart did the old librarian in the half-moon specticals and an old cardigan came and dropped off all the research Troi asked for.

The boxes were covered in thick dust and cobwebs that flew everywhere once they were touched. They were labeled arrest records since 1851. "So this is how Sammy spent four good years of his life, huh?" Dean asked sarcastically.

"Welcome to higher education" he smiled before opening the first box and pulling out a stack for himself, Troi, and Dean to start flipping through. Dean took a moment to himself and caught a nap while his two younger siblings continued to pour over records. With each passing report though Troian's curiosity continued to grow and blossom to the point when she couldn't keep it inside anymore. "Why a lawyer, Sammy?" her tongue asked before her brain could stop her. _Damn my crocodile mouth overriding my oarakeet ass again! I know I am going to get an answer I don't want to hear._

"It seemed like the only way to sleep with everything we have done before. I could fix my mistakes this way- by saving innocent people" Sam said without looking up from his pile. "Plus the chicks dig it."

"You're so full of yourself" Troi shoved, unsure of what else to say. She went back to her pile, attempting to forget about the conversation that she just had with sam. Unfortunately, the silence was short lived.

"Hey, check this out" Sam announced while also trying to wake Dean up from his nap. "A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes."

"Jeeze, does it say how?" Dean asked.

"Uh, right here. 'Some of the deceased were found in their bed, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh'."

Troian peered over Sam's shoulder while he continued to quote the report to Dean. Her ears couldn't believe what they were hearing, but it all started to make sense. Then her eyes fell on one little detail hidden into the last sentence of the page Sam was still reading from. "Wait, get this" she interrupted. "The murder weapon? Looks like that preacher lost his hand in an accident. He had it replaced with a sliver hook. And it all happened on 9 Mile Road!"

"Sam place where the frat boy was killed" Dean nodded. "Nice job Dr. Venkmen. Let's check it out."

* * *

As the sign "9 Mile Road" came into view Troian felt a sense of dread rise up from her stomach. The legend didn't seem like the right path to her anymore, but then again nothing else fits.

"Alright kids," Dean joked "field trip time." He flung open his door and started towards the Impala's trunk. Sam followed Dean to the back while Troi leaned against the hood, staring at the sign. "Here you go" Dean said, tossing a shotgun at Sam along with a couple shells to go with the weapon.

"If it is a spirit, buckshot wont do much good" Sam shook his ehad.

"Yeah," Dean agreed "rock salt."

"Huh, salt being a spirit deterrent."

"Yeah, it wont kill 'em" Dean said as he pulled out another shotgun Dean was offering to her along with the shells.

"That's pretty good. You and Dad think of this?" Sam asked Dean.

He shook his head and motioned towards their younger sister. "I told you, Sammy! You don't have to be a college graduate to be a genius."

Sam couldn't help but feel pride for his sister's accomplishments but saddened at the waste it was. All Troian wanted since she found out Sam was happier in school than fighting behind her was to go to college with him right beside her. Then John figured it out as well, and their dream was changed. She was the smarter twin, but she got stuck doing the shitty job- and everyday Sam kicked himself for how it happened.

Sam was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed Troian had stopped moving and her shotgun was tucked tightly into her shoulder. It must have been a noise in the bushes in front of her, so Sam followed suit and aimed his weapon at the same bush.

"Over there" Dean whispered as he crouched behind the larger cover. Sam and Troi both cocked their weapons in response right as the leaves began to rustle louder and more violently.

"Put the guns down!" the sheriff bellowed from behind his own hand gun as he emerged from the bush.

"W-w-wait, okay! Okay!" Dean said for the twins as he took a protective step in front of them.

"Now! Put your hands behind your heads" he continued to order even with Dean in front of his targets. As the twins complied, Dean stepped out of the way and began to scrounge for his next move.

"On your knees, come on do it!" the sheriff continued to order. "Now on your bellies- all of you!"

"Come on, they had a gun!" Dean whined as he put himself into the same position as Sam and Troian.

"I'm going to stab you when we get out of this" Troi shot over Sam to Dean while the sheriff radioed for back up- gun still trained on the Winchesters.

The sheriff took Sam and Dean to his deputy's car and placed them both in the backseat before going back to Dean. "Boy, you got some explaining to do" he said, leading Dean to his own car.

"And I got quite the story for you" he chuckled once his butt collided with the hard plastic seat.

* * *

Almost as soon as Sam and Troi were taken out of the deputy's car, the sheriff came strolling in with a free Dean right behind him. "Damn, he's good" Sam gawked same time Troi grumbled something about taking forever.

"Let 'em walk," the sheriff ordered "dipshits" he finished under his breath.

The look on dean's face was enough to cast a similar dopey smile on Troi's own. As Dean lead the way out of the station it took all she had not to start laughing.

As soon as the sunlight hit their face, Dean started laughing. "Saved your ases!"

"The hell how?" Troi gawked.

"Talked the sheriff down to a fine! Dude, I am Matlock."

"But how?" Sam asked again.

"How I am Matlock? Na, I said that you were hinting ghosts and they were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical Hell Week prank."

"And he believed you?" Troi chuckled.

"Well, you two look like dumbass pledges" Dean answered as the sheriff and a couple deputies raced past them and into their patrol cars.

"And they're off" Sam muttered to his brother and sister.

"In the car, now! Come on you two" Dean urged as he took off at a sprint to get to the Impala.

Troi got to the car seconds before Sam and quickly slipped into the front without hesitation. "Scoot" Sam breathed out as he also slipped into the front seat.

"Damn, getting all close and personal" Dean chuckled before bolting after the police cars.

The sirens lead them into the college area and circled around the sorority houses. "With all these lights and uniforms it ahs to be something big" Troian gawked. The whole street, both ways was lit up blue and red as well as clogged by ambulances, local police, and sheriff department vehicles.

"Don't think someone just fell down the steps. Even Reverend Sorensen's all fired up" Dean said. "Let's go check it out."

As the three Winchesters walked up the sidewalk to the commotion, they caught little bits of the conversation between the reverend and the sheriff. As they got even closer, they saw Lori sitting on the ambulance's step wrapped in a gravy blanket.

"I just want to take her home" the reverend shouted above the sirens, catching Troian's attention. "I understand that, Reverend. But Lori's now connected to two murders, and I cant ignore that" the sheriff shook his head.

"Listen to me. Arrest her now, or let me take her home!"

The sheriff took a second to think about the new proposal in front of him. It honestly shocked Troi when he nodded and mumbled something about making Lori available.

The joy that spread across Reverand's face was so puzzling to Troi, but she was quickly pulled away by Sam. "This way, come on."

"Why would the Hook Man come here? This is a long way from 9 Mile Road" she thought outloud. "Maybe he's not haunting the scene of his crime" Dean answered. "Maybe its about something else."

"Help me up" Sam said to Dean once they reached the balcony behind the sorority house.

"Dude, think we'll see a naked pillow fight?" he smirked as he bosted Sam up into a window.

"Dude," Troi laughed as she took the now open spot in front of Dean "girls never do that."

"Oh, sorry" he grumbled as he lifted Troi up to the same window. Once he was sure Troi was away from the window, he jumped for the ledge and rocketed himself into Lori's rom. Dean wasn't luck enough to land on his feet, but still landed facing the same direction his siblings were- a very bloody wall.

" 'Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?' That's right out of the legend" Sam shared.

"Yeah, that's classic Hook Man all right" Troi nodded.

"It's definitely a spirit" Dean said as he tapped his nose.

"Yeah, I've never smelled ozone this strong before" Sam realized as he walked over to the window they just crawled through. "Hey, come here. Does this look familiar to you guys?"


	19. Failed Attempts

_**Failed Attempts**_

Troi followed Sam's line of vision to stare at carving into the window sill. The object was clearly carved in carefully by something very sharp since the edges were steep and splintered. The carving was of a cross with four smaller, yet identical crosses surrounding it. She knew she had seen it somewhere recently, but she couldn't place where exactly she had seen it. "Yeah it does" she answered quietly.

"It's the same symbol" Sam placed the carving for Troi. "Seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns."

"Alright then," Dean cleared his throat "let's find the dude's grave, salt, and burn the bones, and put him down."

For some reason though, Troian felt like that was wrong and impossible. She reached for the notes she took while they were in the library out of her back pocket and read the line she was looking for. "After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave." Troian looked up from the page once she was done reading and saw two similar annoyed faces looking back at her. "Sorry, not my fault!" she threw her arms up.

"Super" Dean sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"Okay" Sam sighed "so we know its Jacob Karns. But we still don't know where he'll manifest next. Or why."

"I'll take a wild guess at why" Troi spoke up. "I think our little friend Lori has something to do with this." As she spoke, the three Winchesters began to leave the sorority house the same way they got in. Sam was first out of the window again, followed by Dean this time so both could ensure Troi got on the ground safely. No sooner than did Troian reach the ground did two girls and a boy- all attractive and barely dressed- come up and offer the siblings an invite to a house party. "Oh damn" Troi gasped once the shirtless guy began to walk away. "Please tell me we are going" she asked, looking up to Dean, who also appeared to be gawking at two ladies.

"Oh hell yes" he answered before heading back to the car.

* * *

The party was going hard by the time Dean pulled up outside the frat house. He was clearly gawking at the view in front of him through the windshield while Troian did the same from the back seat. Sam couldn't believe his siblings right then- but it was hilarious and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Man," Dean said in between Sam's laughing spells "you've been holding out on me."

"This college thing is awesome!" Troian exclaimed from the back seat as she threw open the door to get out.

The statement from Troian quickly sobered Sam and broke his laughing spell. She was supposed to be partying a lot and is supposed accustomed to this scene. It was his fault that she hasn't seen this before and now there is no going back. "This wasn't really my experience he explained as he let Troian go into the house before him.

"Let me guess. Libraries, studying, straight A's?" she yelled over her shoulder, earning only a nod in response.

"What a geek" Dean chuckled. They had made it to the kitchen, where it was significantly less crowded. "Alright, you do your homework?" he asked in a normal voice.

"Yeah. It was bugging me, right? So, how is the Hook Man tied up with Lori? So I think I came up with something" Sam said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket same time Troi came back with three red cups sloshing with a strong smelling drink inside. After glancing at the paper, Sam passed it over to his twin sister and took the second cup out of her hand.

"1932. Clergyman arrested for murder. 1967. Seminarian held in hippie rampage" Troian read.

"There's a pattern here" Sam nodded.

"Thought a pattern needed three elements" Troi murmured as she took a sip out of her red cup. But she was ignored by Sam, who kept going.

"In both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immorality. And then found himself wanted for killings he claimed were of an invisible force. Killings carried out- get this- with a sharp instrument."

"Alright, well sharp instrument killing immorality" Troi thought out loud.

"But, what's the connection to Lori?" Dean asked.

"A man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality?" Sam asked sarcastically. He watched when it finally clicked in Dean's head and flashed as recognition in his bright green eyes.

"Except maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he's just trying to save his only daughter" Troi finished for Sam.

"Reverend Sorenson" Dean nodded. "You two think he's summoning the spirit?"

"Perhaps" she shrugged.

"Or, you know how a poltergeist can haunt a person instead of a place?" Sam asked rhetorically, knowing Dean and Troian both knew the answer.

"Spirit latches onto the reverend's repressed emotions, feed off them, okay" Dean agreed.

"-without him even knowing it" Troi agreed. "You should keep an eye on Lori tonight."

"What about you two?" Sam asked.

"We'll go see if we can find the unmarked grave."

* * *

No sooner than did Troian light the corpse on fire did her cellphone ring from her back pocket. The smell of burning rotten flesh always turned her stomach, but it seemed to be so much worse that the shrill from the pocket was God's saving grace. She took a step away from the burning hole and flipped her phone open. "Yeah, Sammy" she smiled into the phone "any PG news to share?"

Dean couldn't hear the conversation, but based on how her body language changed he knew something was up. By the time he got to Troi, she was closing her phone. "What's wrong?"

"Hospital- I'll tell you on the way" she said before going straight for the Impala.

"Alright, what's going on?" he asked as he grabbed the gear and followed his sister.

"Lori noticed Sam sitting outside and went to talk to him. While they were outside Sam looked up and saw someone behind the reverend."

"When?"

"Don't know exactly."

"Dammit!" Dean swore as he race off towards the Ankeny hospital.

* * *

When Dean and Troian finally pulled up at the hospital and found the right room, they were blocked by uniforms from going any further. All Dean could see from around the blue shoulders was than an officer was questioning Sam and his hackles instantly went up. For anyone to think Sam had anything to do with what was happening was absurd! "Hey that's my brother" Dean barked, earning the attention of everyone dressed in blue.

The hands began to tighten around dean's arms, so now it was time for Troi to do something. "Hey brother" she smiled and waved to Sam

"Son," the sheriff started to say to Sam as he waved Dean and Troi through "it seems every time I turn around, I'm seeing you. I suggest you try to stay out of trouble."

"Yes, sir" Sam said right as his siblings came up to him. The sheriff accepted his response with a nod and walked away with only a look at Troian.

"You okay?" she asked, looking back from the sheriff to her twin.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he sighed.

"What the hell happened?" Dean asked.

"Hook Man" he answered simply.

"You saw him?"

"Damn right. Why didn't you torch the bones?"

"We did, Sammy" Troi said. "I started the fire myself! You sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?"

"It sure as hell look like him. And that's not all; I don't think the spirit is latching on to the reverend."

"Well yeah, he wouldn't send the Hook Man after himself" Dean stated the obvious.

"I think its latching onto Lori" Sam shook his head to Dean's response. "Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman."

"So what?"

"So- she's upset about it! She's upset about the immorality of it. She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished."

"Ok, so she's conflicted" Troi shrugged, putting some of the puzzle pieces together. "And the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching on to repress the emotions and maybe he's doing the punishing for her?"

"Right. Rich comes on too strong. Taylor tries to make her into a party girl. Dad has an affair."

"Remind me not to piss this girl off" Dean scoffed. "But Troi, she burned those bones, I buried them in salt, why didn't that stop him?"

"You two must have missed something" Sam replied.

"Like a toe?" Troi asked sarcastically. "No, I burned everything in that coffin."

"Did you get the hook?" he asked Troi directly.

Troi took a second to think back to what was in that hole. _One brown box, one matching lid, one rotting body of a preacher…with only one hand! _"Dammit, no."

"Well it was the murder weapon and in a way part of him" Sam smiled, now knowing exactly what had to be done. "So if we find the hook…"

"We stop Hook Man" Dean and Troi both finished at the same time.

"But that means we first have to get out of the hospital" Troi jokingly stated the obvious. The three of them hadn't moved from the middle of the floor's lobby, but everyone else had done a wonderful job working around them. She acknowledged the hospital staff was probably used to this, but she was still impressed by how well they were doing it.

"Does that mean another long night at the library?" Dean whined as they all turned to start toward the elevator that would take them to the exit.

"Yeah, bud" Troi chuckled. "Sorry, not sorry!"


	20. Hook, Line, and Sinker

_**Hook, Line, and Sinker**_

The Winchesters had spent about six hours in the library trying to find where the hook went. Dean was able to finally track it down to a disposition of personal affects taken in by the Penitentiary. He then found that it had been released back to St. Barnabas Church to be melted down.

They had not been able to find a record of the hook after that, so now it was up to them to melt and burn all silver in hopes of destroying the hook. Sam and Troian both took to the house to remove all silver while Dean did the same at the church and sanctuary. It was agreed once the silver was gathered they would meet at the church to burn it all.

"Alright," Troi sighed as she dropped a cloth bag to the ground. "Should be it." The silver clanked against each other as it hit the tile floor.

"We got everything that looked silver" Sam said as he too dropped a bag on the floor, letting out another obnoxious clang.

"Better safe than sorry" Dean said as he began to put everything in the fire one by one. Suddenly, there was footsteps clonking around up above their heads and doors opening. "Thought you said Lori wasn't supposed to be home" he whispered to Sam, who only nodded his head. "Move, move!" he barked to his brother while reaching for his pearl handle Cold 1911. "Troi, keep putting the silver on."

"No!" she hollered back. "I won't be tucked into the corner!"

Dean knew better than to hope that his baby sister would listen to him. Still, he hoped one day she would say okay and do what he asked. This time, as usual, Troi was revolting by reaching for the shotgun filled with rock-salt. Shaking his head, Dean followed Sam up the stairs with Troi right behind him.

Sam quickly ducked to one side of the hall once he reached the top of the stairs. Dean crammed himself into the space of the others so Troi could also fit. Sam peaked around the corner and felt the anxiety leave his stomach as he exhaled at the sight. He motioned for Dean and Troi to lower their weapons before stepping out. "Lori?"

"What are you doing here" she gasped out of fright. She had been sitting in a pew close to the tabernacle crying into her hands.

"What is it?" he asked, avoiding her question.

"I've been trying to understand- what's happening? Why? N-now I know, so I'm praying f-for forgiveness!"

"Forgiveness, for what?"

"Don't you see? I'm to blame for all this. I've read in the Bible about avenging angels."

"Trust me, this guy- he's no angel."

"I was so angry at my father" Lori sniffled. "Part of me wanted him punished. And then he came and h-he punished him!"

Troi had been listening, along with Dean, to the whole conversation from their corner. "It's not your fault" she blurted as she stepped out from the cover.

"You keep saying that" she sniffled. "But it is, I don't know how, but it is. I killed Rich! Taylor, too. A-and I nearly killed my father."

"Lori…" Troi warned, but she was interrupted.

"I can see it now. They didn't deserve to be punished. I do!"

The effect it seemed her words had on everything around the church was eerie. The candles were extinguished by a random strong gust of wind. Troian looked around for the open window or door, but wasn't surprised when she saw they were all closed. The temperature, however, continued to drop quickly. This is exactly what Troi was worried would happen when they pieced together Lori was unknowingly driving the Hookman. "Come on. We gotta go" Troi urged Lori. She pushed Lori back towards Sam in an effort to move back to the stairs leading to the basement. But the Hookman beat them to it.

"Crap!" Troi shrieked, putting herself in front of Lori.

"Go!" Sam shouted as he pointed back the opposite way.

Troi pushed Lori to go in front of her, but remained very close behind. She steered Lori to go down an aisle towards another back room.

The room was small and covered in mirrors. Sam came scrambling in right behind the girls, but the Hookman followed too. He began swinging his hook in an attempt to hit Lori. His hook smashed mirrors and shattered glasses set out on counters.

As he chased everyone around the room, Sam stepped in front of the girls. The act temporarily threw the Hookman off, but not enough to prevent his hook from going through Sam's shoulder. With a grunt Sam fell to the ground. "Sammy!" Troi screamed as she fell to her knees to look over her twin.

The distraction gave Hookman just enough time to go for his target again. He disappeared in a second, but the strength of his spirit dragged Lori down to the ground and across the floor.

"No, Lori" Troi yelled as she scrambled over to her. "Come on, you okay?"

"Yeah" she answered as Troi helped her up. No sooner than were the girls on their feet did Hookman reappear. All Troi could do was stare as he loomed over them and Sam wasn't able to get up quick enough either- they were in trouble now.

Sam could see the terror in his sister's eyes, but he was just as useless right now, his shooting arm was incapacitated. Thankfully Dean stepped into the room. "Troi, drop!" he barked as he raised the shotgun up.

Troian quickly registered Dean's intent and crouched low, pulling Lori down with her. Dean didn't hesitate to pull the trigger as soon as the girls were out of range. Hookman vanished like a dust as soon as the salt rounds came into contact with him.

Sam struggled to stand up against the pain, but felt at ease when he saw his sister and Lori were okay. "I thought we got all the silver."

"So did I" Dean sighed as he looked Troi over.

"They why is he still here?"

"Well, maybe we missed something!"

Troi looked around the room reflexively to see if there was something here when her eyes fell on Lori. "Where did you get that chain, hun?" she asked as she reached for the necklace.

"My father gave it to me" she said, also reaching for the necklace. It was a thin silver chain with a classic clasp and traditional silver cross hanging down on her chest.

"Where'd your dad get it?" Dean asked quickly.

"He said it was a church heirloom" she answered. "He gave it to me when I started school."

"Is it silver?" Sam asked forcefully, startling Lori.

"Yes!"

Sam leaned forward and snatched at the chain. He ripped it off from her neck and turned to run for the door. Before he made it, a scratch began to make its way down towards the room.

"Troi" Dean shouted to his sister. He threw the shotgun he had just used to her along with a few rounds. "Go!" he urged when she didn't react right away.

"Right" she said as she raced after Sam, firing shots at the line following behind them, Even though Sam's legs are longer, Troi made up time and got down to the basement the same time he tossed the necklace onto the fire.

* * *

"And you saw him too?"

"Yes, Sheriff. That's what I said" Troi sighed while Dean stood behind her.

"The man with the hook?" he asked again.

"Yeah. We fought him off and ran" Dean answered this time.

"And that's all?"

"Yeah, that's all."

"Listen," he sighed "you and your family-"

"-oh don't worry. We're leaving town" Dean interrupted as he started toward the car with Troian at his side. Sam met his siblings at the car and sat in the front seat. "We could stay" Troi shrugged from the backseat. The only response she got was a shake of the head. "Okay" she sighed under her breath, not pushing the matter anymore.

**AN: Sorry for the delay, it was a stressful semester. Hope you enjoyed...tell me what you think! **


	21. Oasis Plains

**_Oasis Plains_**

**AN: Here begins the next episode _Bugs_. I do not own anything! Sorry its been taking me a while, job apps and job testing.. But tell me what you think! Enjoy!**

The Winchesters had been on the road for a while now, unable to find another decent lead. They had been bouncing around from motel room to motel room, heading further south towards Oklahoma ad money had begun to get tight. Dean cut down to one six-pack and they all began eating only two meals a day.

They cut enough corners, now it was time to work again. While Dean worked, Sam sat on the hood of the Impala and Troi in the front passenger seat. She was snuggled under an old blanket with her journal open on her lap. She had been just flipping through the pages while Sam read a couple newspapers.

The silence between them was deafening but not uncomfortable; still Troian craved a conversation with Sam. Alone time was hard to come by on the road, so usually they made those precious moments the most they could. This time no matter how hard she tried, Troi couldn't come up with something to say and it was worrying her. Thankfully, Dean came out to the car waving a bundle of bills in front of him.

"You know, we could get day jobs once in a while" Sam called out to Dean.

"Hunting's our day job. And the pay is crap" Troi sang from her spot in the car loud enough for Dean to hear her too. She had said the same thing to Dean many times, now she knew the answer by heart.

"Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It's not the most honest thing in the world, Dean" he chuckled at Troian's answer.

"Well, let's see honest" he said holding one hand out, palm up. "Fun and easy" he said, holding the other out the same way. He moved them up and down, mimicking a scale as a huge grin spread across his face.

"It's no contest" Troi admitted before Dean said it himself.

"That's my girl" Dean snickered. "Besides, we're good at it. It's what we were raised to do" he said as he tossed the wad of cash onto Troian's lap.

"Well how we were raised is jacked."

"Yeah, says you, Sammy. We got a new gig or what?"

"Oasis Plains, ok- not far from here. A gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfeblt- Jakob."

"Huh?"

"Mad cow disease" Troi answered before Sam could.

"Your brains freak me out" Dean shuddered. "Mad cow, wasn't that on Oprah?" Dean responded.

"You watch Oprah?" Sam threw at his brother. Watching Dean squirm was always entertaining, but this time it was even more pleasurable.

He looked down at his boots as a flush rose to his cheeks. "So, uh this guy eats a bad burger" Dean sidetracked. "Why is it our kind of thing?"

"Mad cow causes massive brain degeneration. It takes months, even years for it to appear" Sam explained. "But Dustin, sounds like it happened in about an hour, maybe less."

"Okay, that's weird" Troi nodded. "Could be something nastier."

"Alright, continue to Oklahoma" Dean sighed. "Man, all work. No time to spend my money."

"I hear that makes Jack a dull boy" she smiled as Sam got into the back seat of the Impala.

* * *

Troian couldn't help but feel confused as she and her brothers stared down at the hole surrounded by police tape. It was just a hole in the middle of what will eventually be someone's front yard- and the electric worker just so happened to die of Mad cow in this hole?

"What do you think?" Dean asked, breaking Troi's concentration.

"I don't know" Sam answered "but it happened pretty damn fast."

"Whoa, you are not going closer to it, are you?" Troi shrieked when she saw Sam make a move towards the police tape.

"Yeah, why?" Sam chuckled. "It's a hole, Troi."

"A hole someone with Mad cow died in- and in record time may I add!"

"It's a hole, Troi."

"Sure it is" she mumbled as he and Dean continued under the tape.

"So what? Some sort of creature chewed on his brain?" Dean asked, ignoring Troian's trepidations about the safety surrounding the hole.

"No, there would be an entry wound" Sam shook his head.

"Sounds more like something was already in it" Troi added.

"Looks like there is only room for uh, someone small" Dean said as he peered down into the hole.

"Oh no, hell no" Troi shouted. "I am not going down into that hole! We don't know what the hell is down there."

"Wanna flip a coin then?" Dean chuckled. "Cuz you're scared."

"I'm not scared, jackass. Flip the coin."

"Alright, call it in the air, chicken."

Dean tossed the quarter into the air and followed it with his bright green eyes. Troi also followed the quarter up but snatched it out of the air. "I'm going!" she shouted.

"No, its fine" Dean smirked. "I said I'd go."

"I'm going!" she said again. Sam began tying the rope around her waist. "Don't drop me" she sighed while his long fingers worked knot after knot into the rope.

Of course she had total trust in her twin, but she couldn't feel more at ease until he acknowledged that he was her lifeline in this moment. "Couldn't if I tried" Sam smirked as he tightened the final knot.

Troi walked under the police line and sat down at the edge of the hole. Her legs dangled into the hole. It was dark, but thankfully it wasn't too deep. She could see the bottom from the top, but thinking about what could be waiting for her down there unsettled Troi like never before. "Shit, I'm going" she exhaled before leaping in.

The sides of the hole were crumbling and sending dirt clogs into her shirt and hair. Roots from the nearby tree snagged her jeans but she was still being lowered. The strain on her waist kept her focus on the mission as she continued to look all around.

"Anything yet?" Dean called down into the hole.

"Nope" she hollered up.

"How much further" Sam called next.

"I'm almost at the bottom."

No sooner did she feel pressure under her boots, and the strain from her middle eased. Troian pulled the rope to let Sam know she was down there. The hole seemed normal, there was no escape route or trap door- but there was something along the wall. "I got something!" she called up. "Pull me up, Sammy."

* * *

Troian leaned against the font bench seat while Sam kept flipping her find over in his hand. Sam wasn't sure what to say, he just kept examining. Dean was on edge just waiting to know what it was, but he had to drive. "So, she found beetles. In a hole, in the ground. That' that's impressive. That's impressive, Troian" he said sarcastically when he caught a glimpse of the thing in Sam's hand.

"There was no tunnels, no tracks. No evidence of any other kind of creature down there" Troi defended her find.

"You know, some beetles do eat meat. It's usually dead meat, but" Sam added.

"How many did you find down there?" Dean asked Troi.

"Ten."

"It'd take a whole lot more than that to eat out some dude's brain."

"Well, maybe there were more" Sam shrugged.

"I don't know, it sounds like a stretch to me."

"Well, we need more information on the area, the neighborhood" Troi added. "Whether something like this has ever happened before." She pointed a dirty finger at a small sign on the corner with a red balloon tethered to the top.

The sign had an arrow pointing the same way they were going now and read _open house_. All the houses they passed weren't complete yet, so finding the one habitable one shouldn't be too hard. Seemed like it would be the best place to learn about the area. "I am kinda hungry for a little barbeque, how about you two?" Dean smirked when he saw the smoke coming up from a backyard.

Sam shot Dean a harsh look over his shoulder before glancing back at his sister, who had an identical look on her face.

Dean followed Sam's gaze and saw Troi's look as well. "What, we can't talk to these locals?" he shrieked.

"And the free food's got nothin' to do with it?" Sam sighed.

"Ok course not, I'm a professional."

"Right."

"Of course you are" Troi laughed, the harsh look vanishing from her face. Dean had just pulled the Impala over to the curb outside the open house. As she opened the door the smell of cooking meat made her stomach flip for delight.

Home cooked food was scarce for her; Dean was the only cook she knew and his barbeque was spotty at best. Troian was excited for good food but her hear was heavy with nostalgia.

Sam must have picked up on her mood, because next thing Troian knew, he was giving her arm a gentle squeeze. "You good Little T?" he whispered. He had a slight smile on his scruffy face, the one that always made her feel better.

Troi swallowed as much of the grief she could before managing a quick strong nod. "Just hungry is all."

The understanding smile shifted to a knowing look in Sam's dark green eyes. He didn't need to open his mouth to explain the sentiments; instead he followed Troi up the walk to the front door with Dean by his side.

"Growin' up in a place like this would freak me out" Dean grumbled.

"Why?" Troi asked.

"Well, perfect lawns. 'How was your day, honey?' I'd blow my brains out!"

"There's nothing wrong with normal ya know, Dean."

"I'd take our family over normal any day."

Sam couldn't help but feel the knife get stabbed deeper into his gut. He could also tell by the change in Troi's posture, she felt the stab too- and just in time for the door to open.

"Welcome!" a cheery man in a well fitted suit answered from inside the spacious house.

"This is the barbeque?" Dean clarified.

"Yeah, I'm Larry Pike, the developer here. And you are?"

"Dean," he answered "and this is Sam and Troian."

"Well, nice to meet you. So, you three interested in Oasis Plains?"

"Yes, sir" Troi smiled

"Let me say," he started, looking at Sam and Dean above Troian's dark blond head "we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or… sexual orientation."

Troi couldn't hide her amusement as an unflattering cackle escaped her mouth. She turned on her heels to look at her brothers' reactions. Dean was so red it had spread to his ears. Sam just looked plain uncomfortable. "They're brothers" she laughed as she turned back to Larry. "We're looking for a place for our Dad. He's getting up in years."

"Uh, great- great" Larry said, recovering from the shock of his own employment. "Well, seniors are welcome, too. Come on in."


	22. Buggies

_**Buggies**_

The Winchesters followed Larry through the house's sitting room and into the crowded backyard. As pointed out by Larry, the weather wasn't the best for an outdoor barbeque- the damp atmosphere made Troian want to stay inside under a motel room comforter. Still, she followed Larry with her older brothers close behind.

"You said you were the developer?" Sam asked as he took in all the people smashed into the backyard.

"Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team. There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels" Larry smiled. "And you know what, we built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself!"

"Oh great, Oasis Plains' first family?" Troi asked, pretending to be very interested.

"Yup, and this is my wife, Joanie."

"Oh, hi there" Troi warmly smiled when an equally cheery woman reached to shake her hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you" Joanie smiled.

"Sam, Dean, and Troian" Larry informed his wife while pointing at each person. "Tell them how much you love the place, honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell houses."

Troi and Sam both let out a forced laugh while Dean just smiled. "Don't let his salesman routine scare you" Joanie chuckled. "This really is a great place to live."

Troi could only find herself nodding even when another energetic woman began to approach them. She was an average sized woman with long black hair, pulled back into a bun. She could only feel like this woman was pushy even by the way she walked- but there was no escape.

"Hi, I'm Lynda Bloom" she said all peppy. "Head of sales. I take it you two are interested in buying."

Troi followed Lynda's gaze and found her staring at her brothers. "Yeah, yeah they are! How'd you know?" she baited, earning death glares from both brothers.

"Well, let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color or sexual orientation" she smiled coolly.

Once again Troian couldn't help but snort another laugh. The sound was mixed with Dean's own surprised chuckle and Sam's stammers to correct Lynda. It was all too funny for both Troi and Dean, so they just left Sam to clean up the mess.

"You know he's gonna kill you for leaving him there" Troi laughed.

"Heh, not as much as he will you for putting him there" Dean countered the same moment Larry rounded the corner and came face to face with the two.

"Want a tour, you two?"

"Uh, she does" Dean said, pushing Troian in front of him.

"Oh good, ready Troian?" Larry smiled before turning to go towards the living room.

"Now I'm going to kill you, De" Troi growled before following Larry.

"Heh, doubtful" he chuckled to himself as he wandered around the house. Even he admitted it was more comfortable inside and alone then surrounded by high energy people and sizzling meat.

He walked around the lived in model and marveled at the simplicity behind the complexity of family. The white walls were covered in awkward photos; the shelves littered with gold figurines recounting sports endeavors. But then there was that table by the stairs; it was covered with plastic containers. Each container had a colored top on it enclosing a bug. Dean bent down closer to take a look at the containers and found himself itching. There were spiders, caterpillars, beetles, and some other crawlers he couldn't identify.

Luckily, he was pulled away by Larry's voice coming down the stairs. "You've got three choices" Dean heard Larry say. "Carpet, hardwood, and tile."

"Hmm, well. I- uh I couldn't-" Troi stuttered, searching for an answer.

"Whoa. Someone likes bugs" Dean rescued. Troi quickly shot him a thankful look as Larry rambled something about his son and being so inquisitive.

"Well, uh, thank you for the tour, Larry" Troi nodded.

"Right, of course" Larry smiled as Troi and Dean both turned to see Sam holding a tarantula and talking to a young boy.

"Course he found the lost boy" she beamed while Dean merely walked towards Sam. By the time they made it towards him, Larry had already called the boy over and was clearly lecturing him. _Sure reminds me of someone_ Troi thought to herself as she watched them interact.

"Remind you of someone?" Sam asked Dean once they were close enough to hear. Dean looked over his shoulder now to look at Larry interacting with who he though was his son. The boy's head was lowered while he held the spider. But he wasn't sure who Sam was referring to at all. Apparently the look said it all. "Dad?" Sam asked again.

Troi was shocked to hear her thoughts voiced, but not as shocked to hear it come from Sam.

"Dad never treated us like that" Dean argued. There was annoyance in his voice at the accusation against his hero.

"Dad never treated_ you_ like that. You were perfect. He was all over our asses, don't you remember?"

"Well, maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes ya'll were out of line."

"Right, right. Like when I said I'd rather play soccer then learn bow hunting!"

"Bow hunting's an important skill."

"Yeah, whatever" Sam replied, rolling his eyes at Dean. "How was your tour?"

"Oh, it was excellent! I'm ready to buy" Troi answered sarcastically, earning a laugh out of both her brothers. "But you may be onto somethin', Sammy. Looks like that Dustin Burwash wasn't the first stranger death around here."

"What happened?"

"About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry's surveyors dropped dead while on the job."

"Severe allergic reaction to bee stings?" Dean asked, earning a nod from Troi.

"More bugs" Sam sighed.

"More bugs" Troi nodded, again.

* * *

As Dean drove around the neighborhood, both Sam and Troian looked over their father's journal in the now crowded front seat. John's journal was open on Troian's crossed legs while she peeked at her own, which Sam was holding. There was nothing in her hunter's journal that she could recall that would help them and nothing in John's.

"Ya know, I've heard of killer bees, but killer beetles. What is it that could make different bugs attack?" Dean rationalized out loud.

"Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations" Troi muttered.

"Yeah, well I don't see any evidence of ghost activity."

"Me neither" she mumbled again. When she was concentrating, Troian was hard to hold a conversation with, but she could offer a good amount of information if you knew how to interpret the mumbles and mutterings.

"Maybe they're being controlled somehow" Dean shrugged. "You know, by something or someone."

"You mean, like Willard?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, bugs instead of rats."

"There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals- elementals, telepaths" Troi mumbled again. This time the information was as random as her mumbles were incoherent.

"Dude, she's starting to best you on the scary random factoids, Sammy" Dean chuckled. "Told you school was a bad choice." But then the not so random-anymore information hit him. "Like Timmy- Lassie thing. Like Larry's son, he's got bugs for pets."

"Matt?" Sam clarified. "He did try and scare the realtor lady with a spider."

"You think he's our Willard?" Dean asked.

"I don't know. Anything is possible."

Dean nodded and pulled the long black car into an empty driveway of a house that looked exactly like Larry's own. The bumps of the wheels going over the lowered curb finally shook Troian from her concentration. She squinted out the windshield and looked up to the roof's peak against the black sky. "De, why are we here?" she questioned.

"It's too late to talk to anyone else" he chuckled.

"So, you're going to have us squat in an empty house?" Sam asked.

"I wanna try the shower. Come on!" Dean urged.

"Uh, no. Me first" Troi whined as she climbed into the driver's side to pull the car into the garage Dean was holding open.

* * *

The house was dull and dark with soft carpet lining most of the floors. It smelt new- everything smelt new and fresh. Troian was never lucky enough to smell anything new other than ammo. The smell of a new unlived in house made her heart sore, and from the looks of it Sam's as well. Dean was dragging the bags and weapons into the empty house while Troi just stared at the empty walls.

"Here, sleeping bags" Dean said as he threw a roll at each twin.

"Thanks, De" Troi smiled half-heartedly as she caught the olive drab roll. "Goodnight."

"Night, Troi" both boys called back at the same time.

* * *

Troi was the first to wake up as soon as the pale light hit the wall she was sleeping against. From the sounds of the snores, her brothers both made their beds close to hers. As she peeled her head off her arm and rolled over, Troi wasn't surprised to see Sam right next to her. He was on his back with his head turned towards her.

But Dean was the real surprise. He was flat on his stomach, dead to the world with his mouth open slightly and the sound of deep breaths brushing against his parted red lips. However, his non-pillow arm was outstretched to almost touch her own hand. "They are getting too soft" Troi sighed as she pushed herself up to her hands and knees. Each bone cracked and groaned under the new weight put on them. The creaking made her crave the steam showers Lynda and Larry both kept going on about.

Troi grabbed her toiletry bag and clean clothes before padding up the stairs. The carpet was soft and bathroom bright with the while tile. She stripped off the shorts and tank top from the night before and turned the water on hot.

The steam began to fill the bathroom almost right away, so she happily jumped into the stream and watched as cloudy water ran from the drain. It felt like only seconds had passed when a knock sounded against the door "You ever comin' out of there?"

"What is it, Sam?" Troi growled from under the hot water stream.

"Troian, a police call came in on the scanner" Sam hollered through the door.

"Hold on" she sighed as she turned off the water.

"Someone was found dead three blocks from here, come on!"

The door opened and threw steam into Sam's face. Troi poked her head out the crack, water still dripping from her hair. "But the shower is amazing" she beamed.

"Come on" Sam chuckled at his wet twin.

* * *

Dean pulled the Impala up to the curb outside of Lynda's house. Troian and Sam both jumped out of the car even before Dean put the car in park. They were confronted by Larry as soon as he got done talking to whoever was on the phone. "Hello, you're uh, back early" he said to the twins as a covered stretcher was pushed between them.

"Yeah, we just drove in" Troi nodded. "Wanted to take another look at the neighborhood."

"What's going on?" Dean asked when he joined the twins and Larry in the front yard.

"You guys net Lynda Bloom at the barbeque?" Larry struggled to ask.

"The realtor" Sam nodded.

"Well, uh, she…passed away last night.

A genuine look of shock spread across Troi's face while the boys continued to get the story. _We have to get in that house now _she thought to herself as Sam and Dean made their way towards her.

"You know what we gotta do, right?" Dean asked.

"Yup" she nodded. "See if we got a bug problem."

The three Winchesters turned around and found themselves sizing up the adventure in front of them. It was a two story house with a large fence surrounding the unsecured entrances. Sam glanced down at his twin and smirked when he saw she was already looking up at him.

"Why am I the short one? You got everything out of proportion. You couldn't share?" she whined.

"Well, you did get the brains" he chuckled. "Dean'll go first this time."

"What? Whoa-whoa. Why me?" Dean argued/

"Cuz I always go first. Sounds fair enough to me" she snickered as she began to climb over the fence.

* * *

A search of the house came up filled with dead spiders and a chalk body outlined. They all came up with Larry's son as being the possible culprit. So they went down on the bus stop and waited for him to get off.

About twenty minutes later they saw him coming off the bus, but walking across the street towards a mess of trees. "Isn't his house that way?" Dean asked, pointing in the direction they were pointed.

"Yup" Sam nodded.

"So...where's he going?"

"Follow him and find out."


	23. Dirty Legend

_**Dirty Legend**_

Matt had lead the Winchesters into the middle of a clearance among the trees. The energy around the clearing was buzzing and it was unsettling for Troian. By the time they reached Matt, he was looking at a grasshopper. "Hey Matt" Sam called out. "Remember me?"

"What are you doing out here?" Matt shot back to the three siblings.

"Well, we wanna talk to you" Dean answered.

"You're not here to buy a house, are you?"

No, no we aren't" Dean shook his head.

"W-wait, you're not serial killers, are you?" Matt asked, terrified.

"No, no we are not" Troi smiled at Matt. She was the friendliest looking of the Winchester, and her calming demeanor always made her the one to ease and comfort others. "You're safe there. So, you know a lot about bugs, huh?"

"So?" he snapped.

"Did you hear what happened to Lynda, the realtor?" Sam stepped up.

"I hear she died this morning" Matt nodded.

"That's right" Dean cleared his throat. "Spider bites."

"Matt," Sam sighed "you tried to scare her with a spider."

"Wait, you think I had something to do with that?" Matt shrieked, looking over to Troi.

"You tell us" Dean ordered instead.

"That tarantula was a joke. Anyway, that wouldn't explain the bee attack or the gas guy."

"You know about those?" Troi asked, surprised.

"There is something going on here. I don't know what…but something's happening with the insects. Let me show you something" Matt began to lead them somewhere else.

"So," Troi continued as she followed right behind Matt "if you know about all this bug stuff, why not tell your dad? Maybe he could clear everybody out."

"Believe me, I've tried. But Larry doesn't listen to me."

Troi flinched at the hostility behind Matt's words, but she didn't let them throw her off. "Why not?"

"Mostly? He's too disappointed in his freak son."

Sam scoffed from behind Troi at his answer. "I hear you" he muttered.

"You do?" dean spat at Sam. This time Troi spun around to face her brothers instead of following Matt further into the trees.

Sam sent a glare back at Dean before turning his attention back to Matt, picking up pace so he was ow right behind him. "Matt, how old are you?"

"Sixteen" he answered.

"Well, don't sweat it, because in two years something great's gonna happen."

"What?"

"College" Sam beamed. "You'll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad."

"What kinda advice is that?" Troi squeaked out of surprise.

"Kid should stick with his family" Dean agreed sternly.

Sam paused a second to shoot a glare at Dean and instead found himself staring down both of this angry siblings. To see his twin's pained look really hurt him, but Sam was proving a point more than anything- he couldn't let Troian make him feel badly for this again and right now. "How much further, Matt?" Sam asked trying to shove aside the betrayal he felt.

"We're close" he threw over his shoulder.

Almost immediately they entered an even bigger clearing then the one they met Matt in. The energy here was buzzing even more, matching the sounds of all the bugs around them. "I've been keeping track of insect populations" Matt admitted.

"You two are more like twins than you and Troi" Dean shot over at Sam, earning a small flinch from the giant.

"What's been happening?" Sam asked Matt, trying to ignore the second sting from his siblings in a couple of minutes.

"A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles…you name it. It's like they're congregating here."

"Why?" Troi asked Matt.

"I don't know."

"What's that?" Sam asked, pointing at a large mound of earth. It was right in the middle of the clearing. As Troi focused on it, and her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could almost see the mound moving slowly as if it was alive. _That can't be right_ Troi thought to herself as she creeped closer, but a hand on her arm stopped her from going closer.

Dean instead began to creep closer to the squirming mound. Once he got close to the edge of the mound, Dean tapped his toe into the patchy damp ground. Almost as if there was no structure to the earth under that mound, the dirt fell away in one patch. Troi's eyes almost popped out of her sockets as Dean reached for a stick to keep poking at the mound. "Really?" she shrieked. "You're kidding me!"

"There's something down there" he grunted as he pulled on the stick covered in earthworms. Dean flung the worms off the poker before plunging it back into the open space. But that got him nowhere, so Dean threw the stick behind him and put his arm down into that same hole. His face became distorted as he kept fishing for something. "Got it" he sighed.

It was a dirt covered skull with worms dangling from anywhere they could. But the two empty eye sockets were staring right at Troian, boring deep into her soul. She couldn't stand the feeling that washed over her, so she spun around and put her back flat against Sam's.

"We gotta get that checked out" Sa managed out of his paralyzed vocal cords.

"An unmarked grave with a bunch of skeletons, what the fuck?" Troi whimpered. Matt looked at her with wide eyes, then over to Dean, and back to her. "You should go home, Matt" Troi sighed. "We'll be in touch." As soon as Matt took off, Troi slowly made her way back to face the mound by Sam's side. Dean was still pulling bones out of the mound as she shook his head.

"Maybe this is a haunting. Pissed off spirits? Some unfinished business?" Dean bounced off his siblings.

"Yeah- maybe" Sam stammered. "But question is, why bugs? Why now?"

"That's two questions" Troi mumbled absent mindedly. But the boys ignored her.

"So, that boy back there" Dean started, as he loaded the bones into his arms as well as Sam's. "Why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?"

"Just know what he's going through is all" Sam said as he began the walk back.

"How 'bout telling him to respect his old man, how's that for advice?" Dean said as he picked dup pace to catch up with the giant and his twin.

"Lay off, Dean" Troi snapped, but even that didn't snap him out of it. Instead it just made Dean back track for a moment…until Sam began his back talk.

"I respected him. But no matter what I did, it was never good enough for Dad."

"So what are you sayin? That Dad was disappointed in you?"

"Was?" Sam snapped back at Dean. "Is! Always been."

"Why would you think that?" Dean snapped.

"Cuz I didn't want to bow-hunt or hustle pool- because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our wacked-out family, made me the freak. Dean, do you know what most dads are when their kid scores a full ride? Proud!"

"I remember that fight" Dean smirked. "In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases out of your mouth."

"You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad…I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me."

"No, Sammy" Troi cooed. "That's not true. Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared."

"What are you talkin' about?" Sam asked, spinning on his twin.

"He was afraid of what coulda happened to you if he wasn't around. But even when you two weren't talking, he'd swing by Stanford whenever he could. Keep an eye on you, make sure you were safe."

Sam couldn't believe his ears and that it seemed Troi was telling the truth. Especially with Dean's approving nod, his smirk and confidence faded as quickly as it had come. "Why didn't you tell me any of that?" he asked his older brother.

"It's a two way street dude, You coulda picked up the phone" Dean shrugged as he dumped his load of bones into an empty box in Baby's trunk. Sam went straight into the front seat, while Troi helped clean the extra dirt off Dean's jacket. "You didn't tell him you used to do that too."

"He doesn't need to know that, Dean. It is a two way street, right?" she shrugged before sliding into the back seat of the Impala.

* * *

Dean happily waited outside while the twins went inside to talk to the crusty anthropology professor. He was content with leaning against the side of the black beauty watching girls walking and running past. As much as it seems like Dean hates the idea of college, deep down he always wanted to go. The idea of dorm living, floor parties, Greek life, and tailgating for stupid school games tickled Dean's fantasy. But that was never an option as he grew up- unless his name was Sam Winchester.

After an hour of watching the girls, Dean saw Troian and Sam coming back towards him. Sam carried the box of bones while Troian (of course) had her nose stuck in a book with more under her arm. She always made Sam look normal whenever she found herself curious. "So, how was Anthro 101 with the dear professor?" Dean asked once the twins were in ear shot.

"He thinks they are at least 170 years old. Native American" Troi mumbled.

"Were there any tribes or reservations on that land?" Dean continued to dig.

"Nope, but relocation was common. But he said someone from the Euchee tribe might have an oral legend."

"Alright, so to Sapula."

The road was unpaved once they got onto the reservation and the road became very bumpy. The impala began to creak and grown like the old lady she was, but that didn't cause Dean to slow down any. The eyes of very classic pickup truck owner was on his classic American made muscle car speeding down the dirt roads with a cloud of dust raising as his flag behind him.

When the hunters finally came into view, Dean finally slowed his car. He lined the car up to the curb before putting it in park. As soon as the engine quieted Troi leapt from the backseat. She was excited to speak with the contact the professor gave her, but mostly because this case was so weird. Sam got out and stood next to her while Dean walked around to meet them. Once he met them, they all started towards the old building. Troi stepped through the doorway first and her eyes fell on a ma playing solitaire at a booth. "Joe White Tree?" she cleared her throat. The man quickly sized her up before nodding.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's okay" she smiled.

"We're students from the university" Dean added quickly.

"No, you're not. You're lying" Joe grunted.

"Oh," Dean gasped "well truth is-"

"You know who starts a sentence with 'truth is'? Liars" Joe grunted again.

"Have you ever heard of Oasis Plains?" Troi sighed, trying to get the spotlight off Dean. "it's a housing development near the Akota Valley."

Joe looked up from his game and into Dean's bright green eyes. Joe's gaze didn't waver, it only grew stronger. "I like her, she's not a liar" he said to Dean before turning a softer gaze back on Troi. "I know the area."

"What can you tell us about the history there?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Something bad is happening in Oasis Plains" Sam answered. "We think it might have something to do with some old bones we found down there- Native American bones."

"I am always shocked you can tell the difference between bones" Joe mumbled down to his cards. After a few seconds, Joe raised his eyes back up to the Winchesters and began his tale. "I'll tell you what my grandfather told me, what his grandfather told him. Two hundred years ago, a band of my ancestors lived in that valley. One day the American cavalry came to relocate them. They were resistant, the cavalry impatient. As my grandfather put it, on the night the moon and the sun shared the sky as equals, the cavalry raided our village. They murdered, raped. The next day, the cavalry came again and the next, and the next, and the next. And on the sixth night, the cavalry came one last time. And by the time the run rose, every man, woman, and child still in the village was dead. They say on the sixth night, as the chief of the village lay dying, he whispered to the heavens that no white man would ever tarnish this land again. Nature would rise up and protect the valley. And it would bring as many days of misery and death to the white man as the cavalry had brought upon his people."

"Insects," Dean mumbled "sounds like nature to me. Six days?"

"And on the night of the sixth day, none would survive" Joe nodded.

"Well, thank you Joe White Tree. We appreciate your help" Troi smiled before leading her brother back out to the car.

"Six days?" Dean asked again.

"Yeah" Troi answered as they got to the car.

"When did the gas company man die?" Sam asked.

"Uh, let's see. We got here Tuesday, so Friday, the 20th" Dean answered.

"March 20th?" Sam gasped, only getting a nod from his older brother.

"Shit, that's the spring equinox" Troi said. "the nigh the sun and the moon share the sky as equals."

"So every year about this time, anyone in Oasis Plains is in danger. Larry built this neighborhood on cursed land."

"And the sixth night, that's tonight" Dean pointed out.

"If we don't do something, Larry's family will be dead by sunrise" Troi sighed.

"So how do we break the curse?" Dean asked the twins.

"You don't break the curse; you get out of its way! We gotta get these people out now" Troi barked.

**AN: Thank for your patience, here is another chapter! Enjoy, tell me what you think!**


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